Smokescreen
by CrazyAbout
Summary: Nicolas Blake, the ultimate betrayer, has far reaching plans that threaten to destabilize and destroy MI5.
1. Chapter 1

A few hours earlier, Adam himself would have barely cared, stricken with what he perceived to be grief after Ros had left, he was totally disillusioned and ready to blow the whistle on the spectacular cockup in Iran, that they themselves had engineered. Now though, looking at Harry who was mirroring his own destructive self was absolutely terrifying. For months they had done their best, covering and defending him from the mounting criticism that Juliet just kept on hurling, praying that he would eventually rise above the loss and return to being the strong and responsible leader that he had once been.

Ignoring as best he could, what appeared to be Harry's indifference and acceptance of their fate, he turned his back on him and addressed the sea of nervous faces.

'We've got plenty to work on but precious little to work with, but most importantly we're running out of time,' he told them. 'Jo and Ben, you work as a team. Connie, wrack your brains and remember anything and everything you can about the likely makeup of the bomb, and Malcolm, do whatever it takes with that computer and find me Davey King. I'm off to make some calls and to find us a way to dig ourselves out of this mess, I won't be long.'

* * *

Gabriel Plaza was bathed in sunshine and more worryingly filling up with tourists, unless of course you were Davey King, who was holed up in an empty office on the seventh floor and armed with an array of weapons and a ready- made bomb, set to explode in less than an hour. He was brimming with confidence and had been left to him, he'd have been more than happy to inflict multiple killings, but his employer had been specific and it wasn't until the square was clear of civilians that he was to detonate the bomb. There was a much bigger picture they had told him, and his only guarantee to get a safe passage home, was to stick to the plan. When he'd received the call, he'd hardly been able to believe his luck, it was a non-bloody brainer. 'Harry Pearce,' the caller had said, the one man who he had spent half his life hating, was being presented to him on a plate. Payment wasn't important, other than for the cost of the taxi, the bomb and the weapons, plus of course the guarantee that he would be able to slip away unnoticed, the same way as he'd come in. A dead and buried Harry Pearce was a far bigger prize.

* * *

'Right concentrate everyone, times running out,' said a focused Adam when he returned after his meeting with Jason Belling. 'Malcolm's worked his magic and the taxi's here,' he said, pointing at the screen and to Gabriel Plaza. 'Davey's on the seventh floor of this building which will place us in his direct line of sight. I've pulled a few strings and six are sending us two of their operatives, who when I give the order for the crowd to disperse, will create our diversion. Malcolm will simultaneously jam the detonator and hopefully the combination of the two will distract Davey for long enough, so that Jo and Ben can get into that building.'

For Ben in particular, entering the square on a beautiful summer's day and knowing that you were quite probably about to die, was ironic. Through no fault of his own, other than through his association with Jo, he'd been dragged away from the relative safety of journalism and wouldn't get the chance to write, what for him would have been the story that would have set him up for life. They were all deep in thought, but none more so than Harry who knew Davey like the back of his hand and was far less trusting or sure about the outcome as Adam. As he stepped forward, brandishing his identity card and he Connie and Malcolm crouched behind the taxi, he closed his eyes. Her beautiful face and her voice telling him not to get shot flooded his consciousness. Wherever she was, he just prayed that she was safe and that if she ever found out what he was about to do, that she would forgive him.

'Security Services clear the square now,' brought no reaction from the dozens of people who were enjoying the morning sunshine. 'Security Services, there's a bomb had them flying in all directions, chairs and tables tumbling in their wake,' as within less than a minute the square stood empty, but there was no diversion, they'd been betrayed. In the blink of an eye and to the horror of his colleagues, Harry dragged himself to his feet and walked from the relative safety at the back of the cab, until he stood face on to Davey King. Adam was paralysed and it took him a moment to realise what Harry was doing. The stupid man was setting himself up as a target and he was powerless to help him. Malcolm had already jammed the detonator and he had to stay put to help Connie diffuse the bomb and somewhere up there, Davey would be watching this and reacting.

Despite Harry's vehement protests, Adam had insisted that he take him to the hospital. He'd gambled and won, his backup plan which as it happened had been a wise decision, had saved the day. What he hadn't planned, was that in his attempt to fake a shot through the heart he would have inflicted so much pain. In addition to the bruise on his chest, he'd slammed against the body of the car and not only hurt his back but also cracked his head on the ground which had rendered him unconscious. It wasn't until they'd got the call from Jo which had confirmed that Davey was dead, that his colleagues had discovered that he hadn't joined him.

He hated hospitals, 'over my dead body,' he muttered at the doctor, when he suggested that as he'd suffered a head injury, that they should keep him in overnight. Then to add to his humiliation, they'd taken Adam to one side and suggested that perhaps he could persuade him, which suggested that they thought he was Adam's father. Well, he didn't need Adam, it was Ruth that he needed and he wanted to go home. Armed with a huge bottle of painkillers and seizing up to the point where he was struggling to walk he finally got his wish, as with Adam's help, he limped out of the hospital and home to his own bed. As was the case almost every night and through interminably long days since she'd left him, he was drunk with a desperate longing and there wasn't a dam thing he could do about it. For months now, he had actually considered the possibility that he was going insane and today, walking out in front of Davey King to his quite probable death was a case in point. Bed too held no joys only missed opportunities and the deepest regret of his life, that 'the something wonderful' had never been said. Alone, sad and in pain, he surrendered to his misery and wept.

Several hours later and from the depths of the horror of yet another nightmare and the pain that was stomping its way through his head, he could hear his doorbell ringing. When he eventually opened his eyes and looked at the clock, he realised that it was well past ten and that he'd overslept. Christ he was in trouble, he'd missed his meeting with the Home Secretary.

'You look like hell,' from a concerned looking Malcolm didn't help, although Adam had apparently been to pacify Blake. 'You know what you need,' Malcolm continued, handing him a cup of coffee and some toast, as he re appeared downstairs, having taken a shower and dressed.

'Stating the bloody obvious now are we Malcolm and how do you propose I manage that?' He answered him, berating himself that he was starting to lose his temper again.

'I've got some news and before you fly off the handle again, don't shoot the messenger, because believe you me I didn't bloody volunteer to get you out of bed this morning, I was sent,' was said in a voice that Harry hadn't heard since the night that Colin had died.

'Blake,' questioned Harry incredulously, his mind racing, as Malcolm relayed the story that Adam had told them, that it was the Home Secretary that had sanctioned their assassination.

'There is an upside to all of this, apart from the fact that we're all still here to tell the tale,' Malcolm continued, now grinning at him, 'he owes you one Harry, so he can hardly refuse a request for Ruth to be able to come back to Britain.'

* * *

In a small and sleepy village on the coast of Northern Brittany, Ruth had already been at work for several hours. It was boring and mind numbingly repetitive clerical work that occupied her days, but never her thoughts. Her only comfort was that the small flat that she rented above her employer's studio had a balcony, which offered her a view of the sea. It was a constant reminder that as the crow flies, he was only a stone's throw away. Her plan had she stuck to it, had been to country hop her way around Europe until somewhere felt like home, but she'd been offered a lifeline and had jumped at the chance when her brother Malcolm, alias Giles, had offered her a way to keep in touch, with news of their elderly Mum. The messages such as they were, were few and far between but in the main they told her that their Mum was fine, but was still missing her. She wasn't a fool and she knew that this was a crazy thing to do and that she should accept what she herself had instigated, and move on. But love plays tricks with people and the expectation that her love for him would diminish was so far removed from reality, as to make it impossible. His smile when it was just for her, his eyes and the sheer magnetism of him when he touched her, were wrapped around her like a protective blanket, and she wasn't ready to let it go.


	2. Chapter 2

It was a well-known fact throughout the services, that when Harry was angry he was best avoided, so had it not been for Adams advice that as he had recently attacked Mace, then tearing the Home Secretary to pieces limb by limb might be construed as a second offence, he quite likely would have done it.

'Two days.'

'It's impossible.'

'Nothing's impossible Nicholas we both know that, so cut the crap,' Harry told him, having marched in to see the Home Secretary without an appointment and demanding that Ruth's name be cleared and her passport reinstated.

Unfortunately for Harry, not that he knew it, for once in his life he didn't hold all the cards and from the moment that he walked into Blake's office, he could see that the man was in pain. If getting his analyst, or according to his sources _the love of his life_ back was what he wanted, then he was more than happy to oblige. It would mean that they'd have to risk another meeting to re jig their plans, but there wasn't any particular hurry and the end result could well prove to be even more satisfying.

'Right, you'll have it by Wednesday, so see you then,' he told him, as Harry's impassive faced stared back at him and he considered not for the first time, if he would ever completely understand Harry Pearce.

At the same time as this game of cat and mouse was being played out in the corridors of power, Adam and Malcolm had grabbed a coffee and had shut themselves in the meeting room. They had the not so small problem of telling Harry, that Malcolm had been communicating with Ruth behind his back and that what Harry probably perceived to be a difficult task to find her, was in fact going to be relatively easy.

They'd known almost from the moment that she'd arrived in section D that Harry had been completely smitten, in fact if it hadn't been for their own stupidity and the teasing, they might well have been looking at a totally different scenario. However, it wasn't until the days that had lead up to her leaving that they'd realised that his feelings for her were reciprocated, which had made her behaviour on the day that she'd left all the more heart breaking. It was the overriding factor that had caused Malcolm to set her up with a lifeline and if the content of her recent messages were anything to go by, then she was as equally unhappy as Harry.

Their contemplations as to how best to explain this to him were cut short, when the meeting room door opened and a coffee bearing Jo followed by a determined looking Harry, walked in to join them.

'I'll leave you to it then,' said Jo, noting the expression on Adam's face she turned and fled.

For the best part of the next ten minutes Harry hadn't said a word, he'd just sat and listened, although whether he was building up to a coronary or making a mental list as where was the farthest flung place that he could send them, they had no idea. Adam started at the beginning and told him the full story, from what for Harry had been the worst day of his life and had eclipsed even the heartbreak of his divorce from Jane, and with it the subsequent loss of his children.

'Ruth made me promise not to tell you,' Malcolm told him. 'She was terrified for your safety and she knew that you'd find a way to make me tell you where she was, and what would that have achieved, other than to have got one or possibly both of you put in prison. She's safe and she's well and most importantly she's so much closer than you might think.'

He had always been a difficult man to read, with a temper that held no bounds and with a turn of phrase that could make even the toughest of opponents crumble. Bring Ruth into the frame and his guard would completely shatter, and this was the Harry that they were looking at now. From Malcolm's point of view it felt as though there was a lack of air in the room, it was almost as though Ruth was sitting there with them and the silence was becoming deafening, until with a huge sigh Harry raised his head and looked at them.

'Bring me your laptop Malcolm and then leave me alone.' He told him.

For what remained of the day, which included a break for lunch when Jo brought him some sandwiches and plied him copious amounts of coffee, they did as he'd asked. They fielded his calls, he was on sick leave for the foreseeable future they told Juliet, when she told Adam that she needed to speak to him and he certainly wasn't to be contacted at home. That of course brought a diatribe of unspeakable proportions, but Adam couldn't abide the woman and the fact that she still appeared to have a job after her efforts to eliminate Ros, only fuelled his dislike even further.

Harry, oblivious to what was going on out on the grid, had finally accepted that they could manage without him and was as close to being at peace as he had been in years. They might not be in her hand writing but it was her words that he was reading and with every message that had been sent to Malcolm, the pain in his heart was easing away. She loved him, she always had and indirectly she was telling him that she had never felt so bereft or so lonely. It was only when Jo stuck her head round the door and told him that Adam was going to give him a lift home, that he lifted his head and acknowledge that he wasn't on his own.

* * *

It had been more than two weeks since Ruth had last heard from Malcolm and it was taking every ounce of her strength, not to pick up her phone and to ring him. Her evening routine rarely varied and once she had finished work which on this particular day was earlier than usual, she walked through the village and up on the headland to a seat with a view of the sea that she'd made her own. It was a time filler, nothing more, until she walked back home again, ate her evening meal and then after an hour or so curled up with a book, she fell into bed. This particular evening she felt uneasy, more so than usual and it was troubling her. Perhaps it really was the time to cut the cord that tied her to Harry and try and move on, no matter how difficult she knew that would be.

The biggest challenge that she had set herself and the one that she had yet to master, was to avoid checking her emails just before she went to bed. A message from Malcolm telling her that Harry was safe or no message at all had pretty much the same effect. She never slept well so to hell with it she told herself, as she clicked on her in box to find one message.

 _Dearest Rachel,_

 _Giles is busy this evening and as he hasn't been in touch for a while, I persuaded him to let me use his computer and to send you a message. He has asked me to assure you that by doing so, my lack of experience when it comes to technology won't create either of us a problem. I had occasion to visit the doctor earlier this week, but please don't be concerned, I'm absolutely fine. He has suggested that perhaps a short break away from home would do me good and as Giles tells me that you're still within touching distance, I thought perhaps that if you were in agreement, that I might come and see you._

 _I'll leave it to you to decide,_

 _I miss you._

 _Mum x_

On reflection, perhaps it hadn't been such a good idea to have taken a glass of wine to bed with her, because when Ruth opened the message, her hands had shaken so much that she'd spilt it. Looking at the clock, she assumed that Harry would have long since left the office and would be at home and that it wouldn't be until the morning that he would get her reply. Could she be as bold as him and start her message in the same way as he had, she wasn't sure, but anything less and he might start to doubt how she felt and change his mind.

 _Dearest Mum,_

 _It was such an unexpected but lovely surprise to hear from you. Giles has been very kind and has kept me updated from time to time, letting me know that you well and that you're behaving yourself._

 _I have settled well into my new job here which is certainly a lot less stressful than the last one, but I do miss what I left behind and especially the fact that I haven't seen Giles or more especially you for so long._

 _I lead a very quiet and solitary existence here, so if you're sure that making this trip won't cause a problem, it would be wonderful to see you. Please let me know when._

 _I miss you too._

 _R x_

'You're the boss,' Malcolm had told him when he closed down his computer and announced that he was going to take it home, 'you can do what you like, as long as you remember that I'll need it tomorrow and you bring it back in the morning.'

Harry was indeed at home and was also curled up in bed. Looking at the time, he realised that with the hour difference that there was every chance that Ruth would also be in bed, something he hoped to be part of in a few days from now. As Blake had promised to have her passport ready by Friday afternoon, if he drove down to Dover and then went via the tunnel which was the shortest route, he could drive through the night and all things being equal, he could be with her in the early hours of Saturday morning.

 _It's me again, said the message. I can be with you very early on Saturday morning, is that OK?_

 _Mum xx_

Two kisses this time Ruth noticed and smiled, but how to reply? Did saying she couldn't wait, sound too outrageous?


	3. Chapter 3

Adam encouraging Harry to follow his heart and stay to away for as long as he liked, might not on reflection have been his best advice, when less than an hour after he had disappeared through the pods dressed in his 'I'm going on holiday, despite the fact that I'm on sick leave clothes', he received a message saying that the new PM had arranged a covert meeting with the President of France and Chancellor of Germany.

For months now the grid had been seriously depleted when it came to field officers, but he knew that it was highly unlikely that the DG would sanction a second resurrection in the space of a week and bring back Ros. Rifling his way through Harry's carefully coded files, Adam was searching for what he knew to be a potential list. On a sheet of paper headed 'Best of the Bunch', were Harry's scribbled observations as to possible options in the case of an emergency. Having made a note of their names and details, he was just about to put the file back in its place when he noticed what appeared to be a second file entitled 'current personnel.' Curiosity got the better of him and a file that had never until now been opened by anyone other than Harry, lay open on the desk. At first glance, other than the personnel records of the current core staff, it held nothing out of the ordinary, until just as he was about to put it back he found an envelope containing some photographs. Faces from the past stared back at him including Zaf who was obviously up to no good. He had no recollection as to when they'd been taken, until he picked up what was a beautiful and obviously much fingered photograph of Ruth. It had been taken on the grid over two years ago, the day after they'd been chased through the woods by the crazed and would be world changer Keith Moran. Completely out of character and with no explanation as to why, Harry had decided that they deserved a celebration and had opened some of bottles of wine. Ruth was wearing a red dress, her hair free of the pony tail that in those days was almost a given. She looked radiant and obviously oblivious to the fact that the photo was being taken. She'd let her guard down and was looking straight across the grid and was smiling at someone, who by the look in her eyes could only have been Harry. Realising that he had already crossed a boundary by opening Harry's desk, he put them away and turned his thoughts back to the real reason that he was there, which was to find himself some field officers.

Young fit and with tremendous potential, had been Harry's assessment of Dimitri Levendis when he had interviewed him a year ago. With potential but with attitude that would probably need taming, had been his less than glowing assessment of Beth Bailey. Adam liked attitude Ros had had it in spades, which was why Mr Levendis and Miss Bailey were currently sharing the same lift on route for section D. It was a huge risk to be taking on two virtually new recruits on such an important Op, but it was that or nothing and with only a week to go before such an important meeting, they had a mountain of organising ahead of them. According to Juliet, who was still bending his ear and questioning his ability to cope, the PM wanted the meeting to be kept under the radar, but had ignored their advice to use Chequers and had instead chosen a large private house on the edge of Kent. Security at the venue wouldn't be a problem, but getting the dignitaries in and out without alerting any potential adversaries appeared to be a logistical nightmare, which after an hour they were no still no further forward in solving. Whilst Malcolm was running off copies of the schematic of the building and Beth who Adam was testing, had grudgingly gone out to buy fruit and sandwiches sufficient to feed an army, Adam, Jo and Dimitri were studying road maps and the terrain within a ten mile radius.

* * *

There was something rather satisfying about driving on the continent where miles didn't exist and kilometres replaced them. It had been ten o'clock in the evening when Harry had driven out of the tunnel and onto the autoroute at the start of his journey. He hadn't eaten since lunchtime and he was starting to get hungry, so he was looking for somewhere to stop that was still serving food and would also enable him to call Ruth. By the time that he passed the turnoff for Paris, the traffic was starting to thin out nicely and the larger vehicles that had been hugging the inside lane, had all but disappeared. It was time to turn on the radio to give himself some company and to keep himself calm. After another hour, by which time his back was starting to stiffen up again, he pulled into an almost deserted overnight stop for truck drivers. Having topped up the tank, been to the loo and then stretched his legs, he bought himself what considering how late in the day it was, was a decent sandwich and a large cup of coffee. Driving away from the pumps with his heart rate now increasing, he found a quiet spot in which to park the car and pulled out his phone.

Ruth was far from keeping calm, she was in a nutshell in a blind panic. The messages that she and Harry had shared had continued for the rest of that week, ramping up the innuendo on both their parts as to what at last was going to happen. By arrangement, these conversations had always taken place when they were both in bed, which in Ruth's case was the only bed in her small flat which she was now currently tidying. For years she had imagined what it would be like sleep with Harry and if her musings was anywhere close to the reality then it was going to be wonderful. Should she go to bed and risk being asleep and looking awful when he arrived or should she stay awake and look equally bad, was the current conundrum when her phone rang. Haring out of the room, she raced across the small landing and into her kitchen. When she finally found the phone and flopped down onto a chair, her hands were shaking so much that she was struggling to press the right button.

It had been nearly nine months, since either of them had heard the other's voice and just as it had been then, they spoke almost in whispers. There was no one on earth that could speak her name as he could, it was almost reverent and said with such gentleness, that it nearly always reduced her to babbling. The emotion in his voice was evident and she wasn't at all sure that he wasn't crying.

'Try and get some sleep,' he had told her, 'it would be four hours at least before he would be there.'

'Park in the village square and walk in the direction of the church, you can't miss it,' she'd replied, 'and then turn right down rue a la mere, I'm the second on the right, number 26.'

Deciding that Harry would probably be exhausted and that the bed needed to remain pristine, Ruth had finally succumbed to sleep and was lying on her sofa. Prior to that, she'd walked three times to and fro to the village square, drunk endless cups of tea and wondered if Harry would think her too forward if she greeted him in her pyjamas.

On a now virtually empty autoroute, Harry was making extremely good progress. He'd had a really long day and was extremely tired, added to which his shoulder and his back were starting to hurt again. He'd taken a bullet albeit in a vest so he was in for a bollocking he was sure of that, and there was no way that he could disguise the bruises. His mind briefly wandered back to his colleagues on the grid and he wondered how they were doing, but it was a fleeting thought, he had better things to do. Would Ruth be asleep, or would she like him, be imagining the week that lay ahead of them and praying that they could finally get past their hesitancy and become the couple that he so wanted. Estimating that it was less than an hour before he would reach Polmur, he pulled into a small picnic area to relieve himself and to tidy himself up. Staring back at him from the mirror was a tired and well-worn face with the stubble of the last nineteen hours already appearing. How could it possibly be he thought, that Ruth could want him.

The village square was exactly as she had described it, silent all but the mewing of a small black cat that had just jumped over a wall beside him. Having dragged his luggage from the car and assured himself that parking was indeed free as Ruth had told him, although why he had doubted it he couldn't imagine, he followed her instructions and walked silently in the direction of the church. He felt like an invader who had arrived on a completely different planet, such was the charm of this small village that for Ruth had become home. It was 4am in the morning, he had been driving virtually non-stop since he had left London and he was running on pure adrenalin. His confidence had ebbed and flowed but with the single aim, which was to reach this most precious of moments, when there was only the space of a door between them.

It hadn't taken a footfall for Ruth to know that Harry had arrived and was the other side of her door. It was part and parcel of who they were. All the expectation in the world hadn't prepared them for this moment as in an instant after he had dropped his luggage, they were in each other's arms. The hesitancy that so often in the past had stifled them, had been replaced by a huge sense of relief that was threatening to overwhelm them, as they finally let go of each other and took a breath.

'Shall I put the kettle on?' Ruth asked without much enthusiasm, indicating over her right shoulder the way to the kitchen, as Harry yawned and then apologised.

'It's been a long drive and I'm really tired,' came back with far too much innuendo to be considered subtle, from a man who until recently had tripped over his words.

In the end, he had simply followed Ruth into the bedroom and whilst he had gone to the bathroom, she had climbed into bed. The streetlights shone a small shaft of light between the curtains, but not enough for her to see an exhausted Harry either undress or that his back was covered in bruises. They both needed to sleep, they knew that, but not before he had kissed her goodnight, this time with a kiss that said I'll see you in the morning.


	4. Chapter 4

Hadnall Hall which was still referred to locally as the vicarage, could best be described as a four square building that resembled a miniature castle. Five miles from Folkestone and close to the channel tunnel, the approach to the house was through wrought iron gates and down a winding rhododendron bedecked drive that opened out into a large forecourt. To the side of the main building there was a row garages that at some time would have housed an undetermined number of cars, over which had once been the staff quarters. Used now as a conference centre or for the occasional wedding, it was part of the Hadnall Estate. The latest in a long line of vicars, the Reverend and Mrs Jones were the caretakers, who having declined the offer to live in an ageing pile, were renting a small and much more comfortable modern house in the centre of the village.

At first glance, Adam and Malcolm who had arrived in advance of Dimitri and Beth had decided that the front of the building appeared to relatively easy to monitor, it was the rear that presented them with a problem.

'Christ,' said Malcolm, who wasn't prone to swearing, when they walked through the conservatory onto a stone terrace with steps leading down into a huge garden, beyond which was a man-made lake. The fields dotted with trees that stretched as far as the eye could see, were all part of the estate said their guide, the lone policeman who had been manning the front door when they'd arrived.

'Every inch,' Adam emphasized, as Dimitri and Beth disappeared to search the garages, the outbuildings and then to do a tour of the garden and the fields beyond. As the meeting was effectively _off the record,_ they'd been given strict instructions that there was to be no inside surveillance, but Adam wasn't one to do as he'd been told, and Malcolm was currently enjoying himself and working his way from room to room with his trusty case of tricks. Since Harry had been injured and Adam had been sitting in his chair, he'd come to realise the worth of someone that was not only a colleague but could be trusted as a friend. He'd always respected Malcolm's ability when it came to technology, but now with a young and inexperienced staff, he was rapidly making himself invaluable. He admired the fact that he had taken the initiative and had kept in touch with Ruth who according to the short message that he'd received the previous evening, had been reunited with their Mum. He briefly wondered what they'd be doing, but those thoughts he kept to himself.

* * *

Sitting in what would be described by a London estate agent as a bijou but comfortable side street residence, Nicholas Blake was enjoying his afternoon tea. Having told his PA that he had a migraine and was in need some air, he was in a meeting with the one time cabinet secretary Alan Taylor and the owner of the flat, someone that he believed to be the ace up his sleeve. A long since ousted member of section D, she had all the resources that he needed, plus a burning desire to get her revenge on Harry bloody Pearce.

As far as this particular plot was concerned they considered it to be fool proof, but it was the latest in a long line of missed opportunities, so they weren't taking any chances. Not so long ago he'd been assured by Collinson and Myers that if he played both sides of the coin then he'd be the next PM. It hadn't exactly gone to plan, especially when he'd nearly succeeded in getting himself blown up, but despite their ultimate failure he'd managed to pull the wool over Harry's eyes and that in itself had been enormously satisfying. Reeling in the ghastly Oliver Mace and promising him an early retirement to a place of his choice had proved a far less difficult task, until the idiot had gone spectacularly off the rails and turned the Cotterdam scandal into a personal vendetta.

Well this time around and thanks to Davey King, Harry was neatly tucked up in bed with his analyst Ruth whatshername, so wouldn't be around when his colleagues most needed him. He was finally the one that was pulling the strings and the prize that awaited him was breath taking.

* * *

Saturday in Polmur was market day and with it the usually sleepy village, where if you arrived after nine in the evening would appear to be devoid of life, became a scene of complete contrast. If it had been mentioned in a tourist brochure, which of course it hadn't, it would have told you that if you wanted to see French life at its best, then you needed to arrive early. By midday, it would resemble the end of the performance when the curtain came down and the audience went home.

Ruth as she was on most days was awake by six and reluctantly out of bed. It was after lunch that it if rumours were correct, the French slipped between the sheets for a siesta or for what Ruth was currently battling to avoid. When she and Harry did what she knew they were going to do, then she'd rather it didn't happen when half the village were walking past her window. Besides which it was a small village and if she arrived late to collect her regular order from the fish man with Harry in tow, then eyebrows would be raised and she didn't think she could cope with that.

Harry who was still asleep, was currently capable of coping with anything that Ruth desired, such was the content of his dream. Opening his eyes to find that he was not only rock hard but worse still alone, had him panicking that Ruth may have seen his bruises or had changed her mind. Her arrival bringing him a cup of steaming coffee reassured him that as usual he was over reacting to the way that Ruth behaved and that perhaps he should take Adam's advice and let things crinkle out. The only problem with that idea was that he wasn't at all tired and a still pyjama clad Ruth, left very little to his imagination. When she then poured fuel on his fire by sitting down on the bed next to him and beamed one of her broadest smiles, he threw caution to the wind, rejected his coffee and kissed her long and hard.

Had she been entirely insane to have imagined that when Harry kissed her as he was now, with his hands roaming the length of her back and working their way down towards her thighs, that Claude at the fish counter would be uppermost in her mind? Before she had time to take a breath, not that she wanted to other than to survive, Harry had with practiced ease rolled her across him until she was lying down beside him. Her entire body was on fire such was the exquisite way that he was trailing his fingers across her stomach. There was only one way that this was heading, which was to a long overdue and with an inevitable ending.

Outside the window as the world and his wife, or in this case the inhabitants of a small French village passed by, they were totally unaware that a few feet above them, a not so youthful couple who had been repressed almost to the point of their own destruction, were making love for the first time. It was quick, it was certainly passionate and it had opened the door to what Harry was now imaging to be a glorious future. Ruth, whose composure had completely deserted her, couldn't think beyond the fact that Harry had just made love and why on earth had she been worrying about a few fillets of fish. In the afterglow that followed Harry had confessed as to why his back was covered in bruises and had kissed Ruth into accepting that technically speaking he hadn't got himself shot, which was why they were now walking hand in hand, in search of a late breakfast. As predicted and despite the fact that it was still only 9am, the market was already bustling with dozens of people.

'Stop worrying about what people might think,' said a now very confident Harry, with a grin that was refusing to leave his face, after Ruth had hurried them past an elderly couple that she knew who had wished them bonjour. The café Independence was one of only two in the village and it was here that Ruth finally calmed down and in perfect French, ordered croissants and coffee. It was a pleasantly warm morning and despite the hubbub that was going on around them, Harry was starting to relax. Ruth fitted in, she looked as though she belonged there which of course she did as for one dreadful moment he contemplated that perhaps she might want to stay. He had her passport tucked firmly in his jacket pocket, but this wasn't the setting where he wanted so to speak, _to_ _pop the question,_ would you like to come home with me? He wanted romance and without the audience.

Not wanting to break with an age old tradition and they were after all in France, they had had their afternoon _siesta._ It hadn't involved a lot of sleeping or indeed talking and there was so much more that Harry wanted to ask her and more importantly to tell her. Asking Ruth what she usually did in the evenings, gave him the opportunity that he was looking for as before dinner in a restaurant that was overlooking the sea, they had walked up onto the headland and sat down. It was here that Ruth told him what she now considered to be a ridiculous notion, that when she came here every evening that it had made her feel closer to him. ' I used to talk to you and tell you about my regrets and all the things that I wished I'd said to you and now never would,' was as far as she got before the words faltered on her lips and she stalled. Uncharacteristically for Harry, he wasn't going to let her off the hook so easily, she'd been on a roll and had been more forthright that she'd ever been and he knew that there was more to come.

'And,' he tempted her, daring to believe that perhaps she was going to say that she loved him.

After what seemed like an age but was in fact just a few seconds, during which time Harry told himself that he needed to _man up_ and that any declaration had to be his, he took her hands between his own and took a deep breath.

'I didn't just come here to get you into bed, although,' he said with a twinkle in his eyes.

'And,' Ruth answered him, bouncing the ball straight back.

Another pause ensued, during which time Ruth wondered if he was ever going to tell her that he loved her. It was so obviously what he was trying to say.

'I've had a message from Malcolm,' he said instead. 'There's a babysitting job at the end of next week and he thinks that I need to be there and I wondered if you'd like to come with me?' Certainly wasn't what she'd expected as she stared at the passport that he'd just placed in her hand.

When she finally composed herself and raised her head to look at him, the expectancy on his face so mirrored the way that he had gazed at her when they had stood on the roof terrace and he had first asked her out, that she was almost as tongue tied as she was then. Time though had moved on, it was different now and she wasn't the naïve little girl that she had once been. She needed more, she needed to push him and she needed to hear him tell her that he loved her. Come on Harry, she thought to herself as she held his gaze, you can do this.

At last she got her wish, as slowly with barely any discernible movement, Harry inched closer towards her and cushioned her face in his hands. She knew that if she put a hand on his chest that his heart would surely be pounding as hard as hers. He knew it was foolish, given what they both did for a living, but he had never felt like this and if he didn't tell her now, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

With the gentlest of kisses after which he pulled back, just far enough so that he could look into her eyes, he told her that he wanted to take her home.

'And,' she asked him more forcefully than the last time.

'And I love you,' was his answer.


	5. Chapter 5

If Zaf had been around, he would surely have closed his book, and maybe if it had been way back then and someone had had the courage to place a small wager that Harry and Ruth would eventually get past first base, they would have scooped the jackpot.

Ruth pouring her heart out and his response of 'I love you,' was all that it had taken, for the floodgates to have opened and for the words to come tumbling out.

'So you love me do you?' she teased him again, when they had been shown to their table and Harry had been handed the menus and the wine list and was pouring her a glass of water. Ever the gentleman which for Ruth was one of the reasons that she loved him, he had opened the restaurant door for her, helped her off with her jacket and then waited until she had sat down at the table. She was in a reflective mood, recalling the first time that Harry had taken her to dinner when he'd done exactly the same things, although without this pre-dinner declaration and the kiss that had followed. His talk of the Grand Tour and not wanting to go alone had been his roundabout attempt to say that he was in love with her, it was just that on that occasion she'd been too stupid and tongue tied to pursue it. Now wasn't the time for regrets and if she and Harry being together meant that she had to walk onto the grid with everyone knowing, then she would do it and with her head held high.

Harry who was sitting quietly and watching her, could almost hear the cogs whirring in her head, when didn't they, but he was still waiting for an answer to his question as to whether or not she would come home with him. He had briefly considered what it would be like if they didn't have to go back, if they could stay here in this sleepy little village forever or better still travel around Europe, but that was only a daydream from which he was awoken by the waiter, who had arrived back at their table to take their order.

As the conversation flowed, it inevitably took a turn away from their personal situation and the _where do we go from here_ possibilities that lay ahead of them, as work or more specifically Harry's return to London, reared its ugly head.

'If it's only a babysitting job, why do you need to be there?' she asked him, in a break between their starters and the main course, 'is there more to this than you're telling me?'

'It's a bit of a long story and not something that I'm proud of to be honest, but after you left I rather let myself down. Not in the way that you think,' he hastened to explain, when he realised that Ruth might think that he had reverted to the Harry of old and had gone in search of a woman. 'You remember me telling you that I wouldn't be able to manage without you, well I was right and I didn't. I wasn't myself, I struggled to cope, gave up I suppose and I became aggressive and totally pig headed. Before you start laughing and saying what's changed, my behaviour started to affect the dynamic on the grid and it actually brought Adam and Ros much closer together. Then things went from bad to worse when Ros did something stupid and had to leave, which was when Adam joined me in losing the plot. Malcolm's message was to say that he's concerned that Adam might not be coping quite as well as he appears to be, and if that's the case, then I do need to go back.'

'Are you completely insane?' she asked him, when they were back in the flat and whilst she was making the coffee, he said that he still didn't know if she wanted to come back to London. 'Harry, did you even listen to what I said to you earlier when I poured my bloody heart out. It's beautiful here it really is and yes I agree with you, it would be lovely to pretend that we can stay here forever, but we can't. Maybe at some time in the future, if you decide that you can walk away from MI5 then we'll talk about it, but in the short term if you have to go back, then of course I'm coming with you.'

'That's good then,' he said, reverting to one of his stock phrases and squeezing her hand. 'We've still got four days and I'm sure we'll find something to pass the time.'

 _Time flies when you're enjoying yourself_ certainly applied in their case, as the following afternoon, with Ruth's belongings which didn't amount to much stowed in the back of Harry's car, they headed south to explore more of Brittany. Ruth had explained to her landlord/employer that her brother, in this case Harry had come to collect her and to take her home because their mother's condition had worsened and that he couldn't manage without her. They'd had a word with Malcolm and had arranged that Harry would drive straight to Hadnall Hall and that he would meet them there and take Ruth back to London. For what remained of that day and for the three days and of course nights that followed, they were enjoying what they hoped might be a taste of things to come.

Brittany at any time of the year is a like a world of its own, but in the autumn when the children have gone back to school and the hundreds of holiday makers that pack its beaches, harbours and tiny coves are back behind their desks or whatever else they do to make a living, it becomes somewhere rather special if you're a couple in love. If you happen to be a couple who have wasted opportunity after opportunity and are trying to make up for lost time, then the privacy of its coastline just waiting to be explored with a scattering of hotels and menus to die for especially if you enjoy fish, it becomes paradise.

A now somewhat more confident Harry had taken the initiative and had booked them into a small hotel on the outskirts of Beauvoir-sur-Mer. Times had moved on since he'd been young and when you'd been travelling in France you had to surrender your passport at reception. Nobody raised an eyebrow anymore or asked the question as to whether you were married or not, although the proprietor of the hotel obviously assumed that they were because when she took them up to their room she said that she hoped that he and his wife would have a very pleasant stay. The fact that they had finally made it into a hotel room together, was in itself sufficient for Ruth not to care, but she couldn't help but smile at the look on Harry's face and the way that he raised his hands in supplication after the door had closed.

'Do you remember that night at Havensworth?' He asked her several hours later as they lay naked between the sheets, well and truly sated. They'd agreed to talk about the past, but not about regrets. 'You have no idea how frustrated I was that night, I don't think I even slept.'

'Me too,' she confessed, 'I berated myself the whole of the following day, but it was Ros and her sideways glances at Adam, plus of course Malcolm and his wretched tracking system, otherwise this wouldn't have been out first time in a hotel.'

* * *

Whilst Harry and Ruth were happily reminiscing and making the most of the two days that were left to them before being thrown back into the fray, life on the grid and certainly for Beth and Dimitri who hadn't quite appreciated what they had signed up for, was going at breakneck speed. It was now Thursday morning and Adam who had been working virtually twenty four seven, had called them together for the final briefing before they departed the following day.

The PM and the dignitaries plus their small group of minders as he described them, would be arriving late in the afternoon. After a brief informal meeting followed by dinner, they would retire to their rooms until after breakfast the following morning when the formal meeting whatever it was about, would take place. He had spoken to the DG who'd allowed him to recruit five agents from another section, so security outside the hotel would be down to him. Within the confines of the house from the moment that they arrived, Beth would be responsible for ensuring that the French President and his party had everything that he needed and Dimitri likewise for the German Chancellor. It went without saying that this was a huge responsibility but he had seen enough of them to be confident that they could pull it off. Needless to say their dress code had to be up to scratch especially for the dinner and if they needed help with this, then they should talk to Malcolm. He concluded by telling them that Jo and Tariq would be manning surveillance from the grid and would be in constant touch via comms.

Malcolm had thought long and hard before he'd made contact with Harry, but he had an unshakable loyalty to him and once he got what he deemed to be an uneasy feeling, he'd made his decision. He more than of any of them had time on his hands and over the past few months had been composing a mental dossier as to the number of times that section D and particularly Harry had been targeted and nearly brought to their knees. He might be wrong about this, he hoped to hell he was but it wasn't worth the risk, but he'd yet to tell Adam.

* * *

Telling two heads of state that their host, in this case the Prime Minister had been taken ill on the journey from London and therefore they'd had a wasted journey, had paled into insignificance when Adam had had to ring the Home Secretary and report that it appeared that he'd been kidnapped. His car had been found in a layby within spitting distance of the venue but with no sign of his driver or his escort. Worse still as far as section D was concerned, was that for whatever reason Harry hadn't made it to the rendezvous either, although speed cameras along the route clearly showed that his range rover with Ruth on board had left the channel tunnel. With the house now virtually empty apart from Adam and his colleagues and the borrowed agents that were currently trawling the grounds, those who had any kind of appetite at all were picking at what was left of the dinner and waiting for Adam not only to come up with a miracle cure that would save them from dismissal, but more importantly would save three lives.

'May I say something,' said Beth, when there was a lull in the discussion as to whose fault it was, why the surveillance cameras had gone down and why the hell hadn't they seen this coming. 'You all know my background so I don't need to go into that, but just to say that I've had a lot of experience when it comes to kidnappers and they're motives aren't always for money. Rather than arguing as to whose fault it is, shouldn't we be discussing why? Bearing in mind that Harry wasn't here when this meeting was arranged, isn't it just conceivable that with our depleted resources we've been set up, and that this whole fiasco is an elaborate attempt to divide and conquer?'

'Explain,' Adam asked her, relieved that perhaps one of them might have an idea, because he as sure as hell didn't.

'The Prime Minister appears to have been kidnapped which should be impossible, but someone's managed to do it, and then we have Harry and Ruth disappearing at the same time. Now unless they're the ones that have done it and I'm not suggesting for a moment that they are, then it has to be someone very well connected to have pulled it off. Whoever they are, it's not a money issue here I'm sure of it, they're after the publicity that this will heap on the security services and more specifically MI5.'

They turned to watch Adam as he contemplated what Beth had said. The get rid of Harry list was far too long to dwell on for the moment, but why the PM?

'Until we hear differently, we have to presume that Beth is right, which means that I need to buy us some time,' he told their expectant faces. 'We need someone in the government that we can trust and who can order a press embargo. I don't trust anyone at the Home Office or from Six, so someone get me the deputy PM on a secure line and let's see if we can get her on side.'

'Adam, you have my full authority to do whatever it takes to find the PM and your colleagues, but if you haven't succeeded after forty eight hours, then I'm afraid I'm going to have to take this matter out of your hands,' was her answer.

* * *

If Ruth was frightened at being shut in what appeared to be some sort of underground cell, then Harry was terrified, not for himself but for her. How on earth could this be happening after the week that they had just had and why? But of one thing he was absolutely certain. If anyone touched so much as a hair on her head, there wasn't a single country anywhere in the world where he wouldn't be able to find them, and God help them when he did.


	6. Chapter 6

Back on the grid it was approaching midnight and Tariq and Jo were settling in for what they knew was going to be a long night. Whilst Tariq had re booted the system, checking that whatever he tried wouldn't cause it to crash again, Jo had headed out to the nearest all night café and had bought them some sandwiches. So far they'd drawn a blank and unusually for him he hadn't been able to restore the gap in their transmission, during which time the two what they presumed to be kidnaps had happened. There had been little if no conversation between them, but each in their own quiet way was worrying about their colleagues, made evident by the small and nervous smiles that had passed from one to the other from time to time. The only evidence, suggested that the PM's car had disappeared from the motorway radar when it was within three miles of its destination, at almost the same time as Harry's range rover which had been approaching from the opposite direction.

At Haddon Hall, all but Adam and Malcolm had gone to bed, 'breakfast was at five,' he had told them. 'We'll resume our search at first light, by which time if the Deputy PM comes up trumps, then we'll have some extra help.'

Having settled themselves down with a warm drink in a couple of armchairs on either side of the huge fireplace, Adam posed the question as to whether or not Malcolm agreed with what Beth had suggested.

'In truth I honestly don't know Adam, but for the moment it's all that we've got, so let's talk through the scenario where we don't find the PM or when we do he's dead. Where would that leave the country, and where would it leave us?'

Adam pondered his words and wished just for one moment that he was anywhere other than where he was. He wasn't cut out for this anymore, he wondered if he ever had been. Harry was the man who should be sitting here not him, and then maybe they wouldn't be in this mess.

'Well, there'd have to be a leadership contest, and then you and I would be put on the huge scrap heap of the glorious unemployed, or at least I would,' he answered him, Malcolm noticing that his colleague's spirits were sinking even further.

'So let's get back to what Beth said, about who would have the resources to pull this off and why.'

The list went into dozens which included all Mace's ex cronies on the JIC, contacts of Millington, Collingwood and Myers and more recently Blake although that seemed the least likely, bearing in mind that he would know that he would be their first port of call. When they looked further afield, then there were also the Russians or the CIA and even Juliet, although they dismissed that idea as unlikely. Despite Adam's absolute abhorrence of the woman they concluded that he did need to speak to her, in fact in the circumstances that perhaps they should invite her to join the team. He could have done with Jo as well, but that meant that he'd have to leave Tariq on his own with support from people that he didn't know, and in the short term at least, they needed to keep this contained.

'Come on Malcolm you're tired and we need to grab a few hours,' he told him, dragging himself to his feet and heading towards the door.

'Ignoring the PM just for one moment,' Malcolm said stopping him, 'I just hope that wherever Harry and Ruth are that they're together, because if he loses her for a second time, it will kill him, you do realise that don't you?'

Adam visibly rallied. Good, he's still got some fight in him thought Malcolm. 'Well then, we'd better bloody well find them hadn't we,' he responded, patting him on the shoulder as they made their way upstairs.

* * *

When Juliet Shaw bustled her way into the dining room the following morning, it was just after five thirty and they'd only just finished breakfast.

'Reinforcements,' she announced in her usual brusque manner, nodding her head in the direction of what was a man about Harry's age but far less well clad, as all but Malcolm who recognised him immediately waited patiently for an introduction.

'Alec White,' said Juliet without preamble, 'drummed out of the service for god knows how many reasons, but if we've got any chance of finding our colleagues alive, then he's our best bet.'

'Christ,' muttered Beth unwisely, as Alec then suggested that she should make him a cup of coffee and a bacon sandwich, because Juliet had insisted that she pick him up at an ungodly hour that he hadn't seen for as long as he could remember. Adam nodded at Beth who grudgingly headed into the kitchen, before handing Alec the few notes that he and Malcolm had compiled. It didn't take Alec long to absorb what he'd been shown and even less time to dismiss their theory that the victims, which was a word he didn't like and in this particular case were their colleagues and the PM, could be miles away.

'Whoever these people are they're playing with you,' he told them, immediately grabbing their attention. 'They've got inside your heads because they know your strengths, which in this case will be to think outside the box. They're banking on you assuming that wherever they've taken them it will be miles away, when in fact there is more than a fighting chance that there here somewhere, right under your noses.'

He paused, just for long enough to say 'thanks love,' to Beth, who had arrived back with some coffee and his sandwich and had shot him an acid filled glance.

'Just for a moment, forget who you're looking for here, think about kidnapping in general. In almost all other circumstances, the people looking for the victims would be outsiders, cops, detectives call them what you like, but you're practically related to this lot. I know it sounds crazy, but let's suppose that they're already dead by the time that you find them, it will be a memory that will haunt you for the rest of your lives and that's what these bastards are banking on. So in my opinion for what it's worth, you need to turn this place over.'

'And what if you're wrong and there not here?' Adam asked him, knowing full well the answer to his own question.

With Juliet's encouragement and much to Malcolm's relief, Adam seemed to have been galvanised into action, his last words to all of them were to leave no stone unturned. Within a few minutes, Dimitri and Beth were back outside with a small group of special - forces operatives who had piled out of a small mini bus and were currently donning their kit. As he watched them from the window, Dimitri who was far more experienced than Beth had taken on the responsibility of organiser and had split them into two groups, whilst Adam and Juliet were who were already working their way through the house, had the garages and the stables as the next on their list.

Left alone, Malcolm and Alec who he knew that Harry would have turned to in similar circumstances, were studying the reams of camera footage that had arrived from the grid, covering what was now the forty eight hours since they'd first arrived. The problem that faced them was that it was almost impossible to discern who was who, because from the moment that the French and the Germans had arrived, their minders looked almost identical to their own agents, none of whom they recognised. Short of contacting the embassies in question or the security services on mass which would alert them that there was a major problem, then as Alec so succinctly put it, they were stuffed.

A break for a sandwich lunch was taken is shifts, nobody really wanting to stop. Markers had been put down indicating the areas that had already been searched, but because the grounds and the fields beyond were so vast, Adam and Juliet who were now jointly running the op and had completed their search of the house and the outbuildings, had joined the search outside. They'd already used what amounted to a quarter of their allotted time and so far they had nothing to show for their efforts, other than their very tired bodies.

* * *

When Ruth woke up, the only thing that she could remember was that she'd felt a stabbing pain in her neck and then nothing. It was frighteningly dark, very cold and it felt damp. She could hear water running, but whether it was rain or was water running down the wall where she was currently leaning, she had no idea. There was the tiniest speck of light, no more than a pin prick but as she rubbed her eyes and tried to sit up she realised that where ever she was that she wasn't alone. There were two other people on the opposite side of the room, one who was leaning against the wall and looking directly in her direction and the other who was sprawled out on the floor and wasn't moving. As her eyes started to focus and she took in her surroundings, she still had no idea as to who the person that was watching her was, but realised with horror that the body on the ground was Harry. Adrenalin kicked in and without a thought for her own safety, she crawled across the floor until she was kneeling down beside him. Her instinct was to speak to him but she knew better than to use his name, so very gently she bent down until her head was parallel with his and tried to ascertain whether or not his was breathing. He was albeit very laboured, but he felt icy cold even more so than she was and she was at a loss as to what to do.

'I don't know who you are,' said her other companion's voice, 'but he's obviously hurt and I'm sure that he's lying in water so we ought to try and move him and make him more comfortable.'

As she dragged herself to her feet, she realised that she still felt groggy, although her companion who had moved from where he had been standing and was attending to Harry seemed to be completely alright. Having warily circumnavigated the room, she bumped into an old packing case that was filled with all sorts of rubbish, that by the smell if it had been discarded from a stable. Alongside it was a large plastic garbage bag with what looked to be some old blankets that had once been enjoyed by a horse. Needs must and to hell with it she told herself as she spread out the rubbish and then topped it with one of the blankets.

'One, two, three, now,' ordered her companion, as they dragged a now conscious Harry to the only dry corner of the room and settled him down.

Harry, who had been unceremoniously dumped onto the concrete floor of the small space that was the overflow chamber for the lake, had landed straight onto his back. Revisiting the pain that had been missing since he had been reunited with Ruth hadn't been in his plans, but opening his eyes to see not only his beloved but a less than pristine Prime Minister gazing at him anxiously, had him wondering if he was hallucinating. Hoping against hope that at least some of the bones in his body weren't broken, he attempted to smile.

Michael as his wife and closest friends called him or Prime Minister as Harry and other mere mortals were used to addressing him was deeply concerned, not only as to how he had got himself into this mess, but why the head of counter terrorism was apparently with him. He could remember his driver telling him that there seemed to be a problem with the car and that they would need to stop in the next layby, at which point two hooded goons had dragged him from the car and bundled him into a van. Until now he had presumed that Harry was still on the continent retrieving his analyst, which was the most recent rumour that had been circulating the corridors of Whitehall. He had never met Ruth Evershed, but if this was her and by the way that she and Harry were looking at each other he assumed that it was, then she seemed more than capable of coping in a crisis. Breaking what was becoming a prolonged silence he held out his hand and introduced himself.

'Miss Evershed I presume, I'm Michael Rodgers, the Prime Minister.'

Had they not been trapped in what was a concrete chamber metres from the edge of a lake and bordered on the other side by a huge ditch beyond which was a small and overgrown footpath, the expression on Ruth's face would have been worthy of a picture. As it was, her mouth opened to say something relevant and then failed other than to say Harry. Michael as he had now insisted that they call him had taken himself across the room in the direction of the only light and with the assistance of the sharp edge of a packing case had managed to increase the size of the small hole that was their only source of light and oxygen. Harry who had assured them that he was fine, despite the fact that he knew full well that if they ever got out of here alive that he'd be spending another spell in hospital, had with Ruth's help managed to sit himself upright and was wrapped in one of the blankets. His watch which was still working at least gave him an idea as to the time, but it was starting to get dark which meant that anyone who was looking for them would have stopped by now until morning.

As he sat there and the pain in his back marginally subsided, his eyes as they always did fixed themselves on Ruth. She and 'Michael' were swapping stories in what he suspected to be a fruitless attempt to ascertain where they were. She astounded him, apparently coping as she always had in a crisis as if nothing else mattered. Well this time it did and if sacrifices had to be made, then she certainly wasn't going to be one of them. Politicians, even decent ones like the man that had now turned to watch him could be replaced, Ruth couldn't. She'd already sacrificed herself for him once before on that dreadful day, well it wasn't going to happen again. Adam and Malcolm were out there somewhere and he had to trust that whoever they'd roped in to help them, that they'd find them.

The temperature had started to drop and with it was warmth that they needed. They were tired, they were hungry and they were seriously dehydrated. The packing cases and the rubbish that they'd contained, were all that stood between them surviving or not. Mercifully, bearing in mind that they were surrounded by water, the area appeared to be free of rats which would have been Ruth's worst nightmare. They had counted out the blankets and there were sufficient that they have two each, but the PM mindful that Harry was hurt and that Ruth would want to stay close, had insisted that they sleep as best they could and together, and that he would stay awake for as long as he could and take the first watch. There was the tiniest shaft of moonlight that came and went as the clouds hurried across the sky. Thank god he was a single man he thought to himself, if he'd had a wife, then she'd be going out of her mind with worry right now, or at least he hoped that she would. Despite the predicament that they were in, he still believed in the security forces and that they'd find them. Looking across at Harry Pearce curled up with his analyst tucked into his side he envied him, what wouldn't he do to have a woman like her.


	7. Chapter 7

To make matters worse and add to what was rapidly becoming a life or death situation, Juliet opened her bedroom curtains the following morning to a veil of rain that driven by a storm force wind was sweeping across the garden and blocking out all but a view of the lake. Her heart sank, she'd prayed that things wouldn't get worse, but seemingly they had. Sue Farrell the deputy PM was due at midday and with her the ultimatum that in less than twelve hours, the worlds press would announce that the Security Services or more specifically MI5, had somehow allowed the British Prime Minister to be kidnapped, and that fears were growing that he might already be dead.

The affair that she had with Harry, had been just that, and although for the life of her she couldn't see what _the silly old sod_ as she had recently called him, saw in Ruth Evershed, she was still quite fond of him which had added to her resolve. He believed in Queen and Country just as she did and in the current climate, with the likes of Blake and Millington still out there, another coup would never be far away. Surely there had to be something that they'd missed, she was damned if they were going to give up and if they had to get soaked to the skin in discovering what it was, then soaked to the skin it would be. If she was awake and thinking, then tired or not the rest of them needed to be up as well, so with a determination that epitomised her reputation, she marched the length of the corridors and hammered on their doors.

Having had a decent night's sleep for the first time in ages, Adam was already downstairs and had made a pot of coffee.

'Good morning,' said Juliet coming over to join him and then offering to make them some toast. Until now, he'd imagined that since what was always described as being moved upstairs, she'd have lost her taste for being in the field, but if yesterday's performance which at times had been backbreaking was anything to go by, then clearly not. She also had the unnerving ability to find the right words that brokered no argument from their colleagues, which on a morning like this was going to be essential. Carrying their breakfasts to a small table in the corner as the rest of them filtered in one by one, they set about discussing their plan for the day. When all apart from Alec, had finished eating and had dutifully taken their crockery back into the kitchen, he called the meeting to order.

'None of you need reminding that our colleagues have now been missing for over thirty six hours,' he told them. 'Bearing in mind that we've received no ransom demand, unless we find them today then there is every chance that we never will. I refuse to let this be my lasting legacy and I trust that this applies to you all. Despite this bloody awful weather, we throw everything we have into today's search and we find them, no matter how long takes.'

Juliet concluded the briefing by telling them that if the weather didn't improve, that every two hours they were to come back to the house for a warm drink and some food and woe betide anyone who didn't.

'Malcolm, Alec, I'm sure you'll be happy to help with this,' she added, before turning back to Adam and following him out of the room.

* * *

On the grid, Jo had insisted that both she and Tariq needed to get some sleep, so having gone back to both their flats to collect a change of clothing sufficient for another couple of days, they'd taken it in turns to grab a few hours on Harry's couch. The usually quiet grid had taken on the appearance of a ghost town, which apart from the two single lamps that adorned their desks was a constant reminder as to the reason that they needed to stick to their tasks. The office that they were using as a bedroom and where they were now sitting and eating their breakfast belonged to their boss who was still missing. Tariq had never met Ruth and it was more because of a need to break the silence than for any other reason, that he asked Jo what she was like and what was the relationship between her and Harry. For the next few minutes, Jo told him as best she could but without any real specifics, about the influence that Ruth had had on everyone on the grid. 'She's a gentle and kind person and extraordinarily gifted. She really is the ultimate analyst and she's the best friend I've ever had,' she told him. 'When she had to leave it was never the same, the cohesion that we used to have fell apart and Harry in particular was the one that suffered.'

'How so?' asked Tariq, presuming that there still had to be more to it.

Jo had never spoken to anyone about Zaf and how she still missed him, but he had been a friend nothing more. With Harry and Ruth it was different in every sense of the word and the depth of what they shared went far beyond anything that she had ever previously imagined or seen. In view of what had now happened, the thought that because of hers and her colleague's stupidity that they might not ever get the chance to be something more was weighing even heavier, so in the tiny cocoon of Harry's office, she answered his question.

* * *

It was now 8.30 and adding to the misery of those that were now picking their way across every inch of the garden and fields for a second time, or in Beth and Dimitri's case the third, a thunder storm had arrived. With visibility down to metres, Juliet had issued everyone with whistles as an extra means of contact in addition to the comms with which they were fitted. She and Adam, who were still searching together as a pair, had reached the far side of the lake, which overnight seemed to have risen. As they looked out across the now unfriendly looking water they were both thinking the same thing, in fact Adam had already requested divers for later that day. It was a grim but still unspoken possibility that as yet they weren't prepared to accept, but one that was becoming increasingly likely. The storm was at its height and with both sheet and fork lightning it made it not only a ridiculous place to be spending your morning, but a dangerous one as well especially if you were surrounded by trees or by water. Having already been back to the house for their first break, they had reached the concrete bridge that took you from the path that ran around the outside of the lake, across the ditch and in the direction of the fields beyond, where Dimitri and Beth were still searching. A huge jagged flash which lit up the sky was followed by a tremendous cracking sound, as in the distance a tree that had stood for what must have been hundreds of years, leant perilously to one side and then keeled over. Had that not have happened then they would have continued walking, but having stopped for what amounted to less than a minute, during which time Juliet had decided enough was enough and that she was going to pull them back inside, Adam for whatever reason had turned around.

It was virtually impossible to have a conversation even if you were standing next to someone, so Juliet wasn't at all surprised when he was trying to get her attention by waving his arms. What she couldn't understand was why he was frantically pointing between the ditch and the footpath until the penny dropped and she realised what he had seen. The excess water from the lake wasn't tumbling from the top into the ditch as it should be, it was diverting underground.

* * *

Less than five metres from where they were standing, Ruth was the first to have woken. It was still impossibly dark and she had no idea as to what the time it was, it was Harry that had a watch. She was still tucked into his back with her arm slung around his waist and with only feel to go by in terms of knowing if he was alright, he did feel reasonably dry and wonderfully warm. She had no idea as to where their companion was, he couldn't possibly have been standing up all night, but she had cramp and despite wishing that she could stay tucked into Harry until they regained a thread of light, she reluctantly extricated herself without disturbing him, covered him back up and stood up. The packing cases had done their job and they had been sufficiently raised to stay dry, but when she took a step in the direction of the small hole that had been their widow, she stepped into water. She could hear the water running and there was somebody screaming, but it wasn't until she heard Harry shouting at her, that she realised it was her own voice.

Harry, helpless to save her from whatever was happening was trying to calm her down whereas their self-appointed minder who had bundled himself into consciousness, had jumped to his feet assuming that somehow or other their kidnappers had arrived. It wasn't until he took a couple of steps that he realised the reason for her distress, they were ankle deep in water that appeared to be rising, and Harry who was lying prone and unable to stand, was within inches of drowning.

* * *

The Home Secretary, who had long since tired of his wife Julia, was now in an additional relationship with his co- conspirator with whom he had just spent a very pleasant night. At the same time as Adam and Juliet were whistling for reinforcements, he was revisiting the pleasures of her body in the confines of her shower. His twice daily updates from Downing Street had indicated that everything was going as he had planned and that if he played his cards right, then life as far as he was concerned would be on the up.

What he hadn't taken into account was the determination and brilliance of a one Tariq Masood, who after two long nights, had just punched his fist in triumph and was talking to his boss Adam.


	8. Chapter 8

With literally all hands to the pump, they had had finally managed to break their way into the chamber, a disused air raid shelter that had been adapted when the lake had been constructed. Adam had got his wish they'd saved the PM, but for their colleagues especially Ruth the situation was critical. In the hour that they'd waited until the air ambulance arrived, her condition had worsened and despite all their efforts, her body temperature had continued to drop. Having slipped in her attempt to get back to Harry, she had crashed against the wall and slid unconscious into the dirty and freezing water, leaving a horrified PM with an agonising decision. He couldn't help them both. Now safely in hospital she was sleeping in a highly sedated state, until her body had fully recovered and her breathing and her erratic heart rate had stabilised. Floating in a drug induced nightmare, she was in another place and in another time when she and Harry had been happy and together. But that could never happen now, because Harry was dead.

As soon Adam arrived at the hospital he made a quick decision. With the real possibility that whoever had done this would try again, he designated Jo to be their minder. An enraged Section D, which included Alec and Juliet who had proved themselves indispensable, were in for the long haul and determined to catch the culprits.

An equally enraged Harry who with one of his arms heavily bandaged, a fractured collarbone and still struggling to breath because of the endless ribs that had been broken, had kicked up such a stink that they had finally relented and had moved him into the same room. Despite his protests that they didn't need a babysitter, Jo was purposefully doing as she'd been told, and it was apparent that she wasn't going anywhere. Rather than feeling side lined at being away from the action yet again, she was making the most of the opportunity to watch Harry and Ruth together. She was the outsider looking in, who having listened to the doctor was confident that Ruth would get better. Harry's bluster was a smokescreen born out of fear and a deep need to believe what he had been told, but not quite managing to do it. She was seeing the other Harry, the one that so obviously loved her friend, but powerless to help her he was struggling. When he slept which wasn't very often she stayed vigilant and when she did, she knew full well that he would stay awake. It was the ultimate cat and mouse.

Having them in the same room actually made things easier in terms of their security and the one guard who was on duty twenty four seven, was currently outside their door. Aside from being worried about Ruth, Adam was mightily relieved that a 'back to his old self Harry' had told him in no uncertain terms, that when they found the bastards who had done this to her, he was going to be first in line to tear bits off them. Added to which, it was as plain as the nose on his face, that for once in his life he was in no hurry to get out of a hospital. With a brief word of reassurance to Harry and telling Jo that he'd keep in touch and that he'd see them in the morning, he headed off in the direction of Whitehall and for his meeting with Juliet and the now reinstated PM.

Bearing in mind what had recently happened, the PM was open to any suggestions and more than willing to go along with Adam's proposal. Dimitri, who nobody within government departments would recognise, should be added to his personal protection.

'I know this is highly irregular Sir, but with an ongoing threat we believe it to be justified. Dimitri's job will be to keep an eye on you, but he will also be our eyes and ears back on the grid. We need him to have access to all areas, to be able to roam about at will, attend meetings and more importantly keep a careful eye on our list of possible suspects and their associates. Until we find out who's behind this, no one is beyond suspicion.'

In the space of two short weeks, Dimitri had been promoted from being the new boy to what might prove to be the most important assignment of his career and he was relishing it. In Adam's absence, Alec had taken him through his legend. He was ex-navy, but after doing the initial three years training he'd opted for a return to civvy street. He lived at 47A Farringdon Road and had recently married Lucy alias Beth, who for the duration of the op would be living with him. He quite liked the idea, she didn't. She preferred men she'd told him, nodding towards Alec who had somehow charmed his way into her affections.

'Remember no heroics unless absolutely necessary,' were his final instructions from Malcolm, as they sat in the technical suite while he was being kitted him out with more gismos than he'd ever believed possible. 'Adam believes that you can pull this off otherwise you wouldn't be doing it, so don't let him down.'

Downing Street loomed large and far too quickly for a now nervous Dimitri. He recited Malcolm's words in his head 'you can pull this off.' He'd been trained for such as this, he just hadn't imagined that so early after joining Five that he'd be required to do it. He certainly looked the part, smart, extremely fit and with just enough arrogance, as he flashed his ID at the policeman on the door. When he was ushered into the PMs inner-sanctum he was surprised. It could have been any office in any house, the only difference being that it was bigger by a mile. It made Harry's Office look like a goldfish bowl, which in effect he supposed it was.

'Nick, good to see you, all ready for the off I hope,' said a cheerful Michael Rodgers, in a tone that suggested that they were going site seeing for the day when in fact they were going to the Home Office.

'Absolutely Sir,' he answered, dragging his mind back to the question he been asked and bracing himself for the off.

Walking along the corridors of Whitehall alongside his new boss, the two-fold purpose of his role was now firmly in his mind. It was just possible that he was about to be introduced to the bastard who had put Harry and Ruth in hospital, but if so why?

'Prime Minister, how are you, fully recovered I hope?' came from Nicolas Blake, who was sitting behind his desk in a meeting with Adam and Juliet. 'I believe you've already met Mr. Carter and Miss. Shaw,' he added, knowing full well that he had. 'We were just talking about the dreadful goings on over the last couple of days and discussing who might have done it.'

Adam and Juliet stood up to greet the PM, neither of them batting an eyelid or looking in Dimitri's direction and in turn he did the same. His eyes were now fixed firmly on Nicholas Blake, who appeared to look slightly outnumbered and uncomfortable as he fiddled with his tie.

'Oh this young man, he's my new best friend,' the PM said with confidence but without introduction, when the Home Secretary queried who Dimitri was.

As the meeting continued and Dimitri sat in the corner and watched, he took the opportunity to observe Adam and Juliet and gain a few pointers. They were feeding Nicolas Blake just sufficient information that if he was involved, it would worry him. A ploy to induce a mistake, it was very clever.

'Adam's got an extremely efficient team and I believe that they've come up with what might be a lead,' was a case in point from Juliet.

Those left on the grid were being marshalled by Alec who in his opinion was back where he belonged. He enjoyed the buzz that came with it and he quite fancied a permanent job if at some stage it was offered. In a nutshell they were doing the same job as Dimitri but the laborious part, working their way through the most recent movements and meetings of those on their list. Tariq, still hopeful that he could retrieve the missing surveillance footage was in the techie suite with Malcolm, who was monitoring all the chatter and re running what had been captured on camera. Alec and Beth were ploughing their way through the archives and the 'who hated Harry enough to want to kill him list', and what might be gained by the loss of the Prime Minister.

At the hospital a now much calmer Harry, mainly due to the fact that the nurses had finally persuaded him that Ruth's condition had improved and that when she did wake up, given a week or so she should be as right as rain, had finally been persuaded to go to sleep. Before doing so, he had turned his charm on Jo and told her that if she took the brake off his bed and moved it a short distance, then he'd be able to talk to and keep a closer eye on Ruth which was what he wanted. Seeing no reason not to, she had waited until the coast appeared to be clear and had done as he'd instructed. Leaving him to it, she ensured the new guard on the door that she wouldn't be long and headed off for a shower and to find something to eat. Whilst she was out, she called Adam to give him an update on their colleague's condition and to reassure herself that at some time in the not too distant future, that one of them would arrive to give her a break. 'Beth would be there at six to take the night shift,' he told her, 'and that he was delighted with the news and would pass it on to their colleagues.' Feeling refreshed and a lot better having had something to eat, she headed back. The same incredible hulk that had been manning the door when she left did no more than nod to her, as she unlocked the door and headed back into their room.

Fast asleep with a now almost smile on his face, her supposedly heartless boss was holding his analyst's hand.


	9. Chapter 9

Planning his exit strategy which involved a wifeless escape to the continent, Nicholas Blake had taken the bait, hook line and sinker. He was the ultimate coward and a leader with no thought for anyone other than himself. But it still rankled him. His long shelved dream had been to be the complete opposite and a carbon copy of the man that he most admired but at the same time needed to be dead, Harry. If what Juliet had said was true and section D really did have a lead, then he was heading for long spell in prison rather than becoming the next PM. Ignoring their no contact by phone policy, he'd called the lady whose bed he had so recently left. At the mention of Juliet Shaw she'd become apoplectic, spitting nails was the only way he could describe it, but why he didn't know. What she'd told him he'd already guessed, some time in the past the feisty Juliet and Harry, had had a 'thing'. What was it about this man that women so wanted?

He also needed to speak to Taylor and Millington but that wasn't going to be easy, now that the PM was working hand in glove with the security services. Whatever the outcome, the wheels were already in motion for one last attempt to destroy Section D and if he tried to stop it, he was going to be seriously out of pocket. He needed to call a meeting no matter what the risk, but where and when was the question?

* * *

With the exceptions of Beth who was still at the hospital and Dimitri who was at a press briefing with the PM, everyone had arrived on the grid early.

'Malcolm your latest observations,' was Adam's first question.

'Tariq and I have double checked the list and we're confident that we can forget about the Russians and the Americans. They seem to be battling with each other about trade sanctions in the middle-east. Mace is somewhere in South America serving time for something he did with a woman, although I'd prefer not to describe it if that's OK? Whatever was left of the Irish contingent appears to have evaporated, which brings us back to those at the top of our list. Millington's keeping a low profile as is Alan Taylor, but it doesn't mean that we should dismiss them. In fact there's documented evidence that they had a meeting less than a week ago. Bearing in mind that Taylor is still in the government's press department then that isn't out of the ordinary, but given his history I've spoken to Dimitri and asked him to keep a special eye on him.'

'Alec?' said Adam, turning to the man who had been sitting in Harry's vacant chair for the past few days and holding the grid together.

'If Dimitri's assessment is right and we've got no reason to suppose that it isn't, then we still need to continue to keep an eye on the Home Secretary. The same applies though, and just because we don't trust the bastard isn't proof that he's part of this. Having said that, I've done some digging and Blake and the PM have history. Their fathers both now dead were at Oxford together but there was some sort of scandal that resulted in Blake's father being sent down. He apparently never recovered and some years later just after Blake was born, he killed himself. Now how would you feel, if the son of the man that you blamed for killing your father turned up as PM and in effect became your boss, pretty bitter I'd say? If you could devise a way to have him killed and let us take the blame, then two for the price of one is my calculation.'

'Christ.' Said Juliet in her inimitable way, as they went on to discuss that none of their suspects had access to the resources that had been needed to carry out the kidnap. Manpower, transport and the ability to hack into the Whitehall and Security Services computers without being traced required a good deal of expertise, and there was no one on that list that fitted the bill.

* * *

Beth, who had been at the hospital for over twelve hours, was bored and sleepy. She was an action girl and wanted to get back out there and more importantly back on the grid. The humming of the machines that were surrounding Ruth's bed were driving her crazy and she'd been counting the hours until Jo got back to relieve her. Throughout the night the same staff had seemingly come and gone until it had reached the point where she recognised them. Leaving the room to visit the toilet and to stretch her legs, it wasn't until she was on her way back that she realised that a nurse that had just walked in the opposite direction, wasn't one that she had previously seen. Panic engulfing her she raced back to her charges and pushing the guard out of her way, she flew into their room. Everything seemed to be as she had left it and Harry and Ruth were still sleeping peacefully. This was a private room in a totally secure corridor without any other patients, so why would a nurse that she hadn't previously seen be there? Trying desperately to recall what she'd looked like, she called Adam.

With the tools and the know how to do it, then gaining access to a hospital corridor no matter how well guarded had been a walk in the park for Tessa. The young blonde spook who had passed her in the corridor hadn't even given her a second glance, she was home and dry. If all else failed and even if Nicholas the poor stupid love had lost his nerve, she could still pull the strings. Dismissal by Harry from MI5, when others had got away with what she considered to be so much more was motive in itself, but him making a fool of her by rejecting her advances when she had virtually thrown herself at him, was something she would never forgive.

* * *

'You're looking a lot more chipper this morning,' said Adam, as he pinched a slice of toast from Harry's breakfast.

He'd raced there in double quick time when he'd got Beth's call and had sent her back to the grid to run a facial recognition. Harry certainly did look a lot better, probably due to the fact that his bed appeared to be inches rather than yards away from Ruth's. Ruth still looked dreadfully pale, but her breathing certainly seemed less erratic. Waiting until Jo had arrived to tell Harry that they were going to move them, he took a deep breath and a long planned gamble. He knew more than anyone what it had been like to love someone unreservedly, and there was that same look of pure adoration and a softening in Harry's eyes. The days when they'd needed to walk on eggshells to mention Ruth's name had to be over, and this was the perfect opportunity to make that happen.

He went on to tell Harry how Wes still talked about the day that his Uncle Harry had taken him to the dogs. 'It wasn't long after Fiona had died and it was the first time that I had done anything with Wes, I was so grateful to you,' he told him. 'Can you remember me suggesting that you belonged to some sort of racing syndicate because I'd picked a dog called Sweet Juliet that couldn't run? Well perhaps when this is all over we should do it again, or better still, maybe it would be nice if the four of us did something together which Ruth would enjoy.'

'Message understood,' was all Adam got, but it was said with a knowing smile.

Once Jo arrived it was back to business again and time to tell Harry about the supposed nurse that Beth had seen and that they were going to move them.

'Our top priority is to flush these bastards out,' was said in whispered tones. 'No arguments Harry, I'm not prepared to use you and Ruth as bait, so whether you like it or not, we're going to move you to another location and put another couple in your place.'

I wasn't actually going to argue thought Harry, turning back to what remained of his breakfast.

Had a moment been planned for Ruth to open her eyes, then quite possibly it would have been then. Unbeknown to her, she was lying within inches of the man that loved her, her closest friend and the one colleague that had always understood how she felt about Harry. As the ceiling appeared in front of her she had no idea as to where she was, other than to know she was in a bed. For a brief moment she saw Adam's face until without warning the room erupted and he was gone. He'd been replaced by two nurses one of which was holding her hand, telling her that she was safe and to breathe slowly. She was completely unaware that on the other side of the curtain a now frantic Harry was being verbally restrained as he attempted to get out of bed. Words like don't be an idiot, you'll see her in a minute meant nothing.

* * *

'We'll be outside, you've got half an hour and then we'll move you,' hadn't registered. Not that it mattered. Whatever Adam had said would have gone unheard.

'Hi,' Harry whispered, almost as though he thought that if he spoke any louder she would disappear or break.

'Hi,' was the reply, born out of confusion and little comprehension as to why they were they were, but with a deep and unshakeable need to hold onto Harry's hand.

It was pin dropping in the extreme. It didn't matter that they weren't talking they didn't need to. Blue eyes locked with Hazel were feasting off each other, akin to a drowning man.


	10. Chapter 10

In the four years since Tessa had been ceremoniously marched off the grid she'd worked hard, nobody would have denied that. She'd always had a desire for money and her current accumulated wealth was considerable. Her dismissal from section D had sparked an idea, so using a wealth of experience and her good memory, she'd gathered together a group of rejected and spent former assets. Having lived on hard times and with a grudge against almost everybody, her small private army were willing to do almost anything she asked of them. Her motto had she had one, would have been 'Any time any place nothing's too dirty.'

Her less than pristine business premises were in a rundown backstreet in South London, so when Nicholas Blake had first come calling she'd been astonished. Confused and slightly wary, she'd been devious enough to string him along and wait for the opportunity to use him to her own advantage. Then out of the blue had come the bundled attempt by Davey King and Blake needed her more than she needed him. Two for the price of one, Harry and a politician dying together how sweet was that, and Blake would be paying.

She'd always been self – obsessed with a more than healthy appetite for sex, and yet here she was again being rejected by another man, or in this case three. Gathered together in her tiny flat, these spineless cowards were dumping her, she was on her own. It was over and enough was enough was what they were saying, prattling on about their ready made plans to cut and run. Well sod them, she had no axe to grind with the Prime Minister he'd been Blake's target. It was section D and Harry in particular that she had her sights on.

She'd made another mistake when she'd been to the hospital, and this was the one that was really annoying her. The blonde spook apparently hadn't been as ditsy as she'd imagined, because according to her sources, Harry and his latest conquest had been squirrelled away from right under her nose.

They certainly weren't the sharpest tacks in the box they were little more than thugs, but they were still her band of assets. She needed to find Harry whatever it took, and when she did, it be would them that she'd have to rely on.

* * *

Finding himself at Tring after years of side stepping endless threats by the service's doctor, wouldn't have been Harry's first choice for a week with Ruth. But having been assured that they were there for rest and recuperation and nothing more, he'd relented.

The aforementioned squirrel was Adam. Desperate to 'move them or lose them' had been Juliet's exact words.

'Your security will be second to none, you'll be safe and well looked after and it's the last place on earth these bastards will look for you,' were an exasperated and tired Adam's final words, before he left them to it.

After two days in what almost amounted to hotel conditions where they had been given a double room with nothing more than a knowing nod from Diana Jewell, Harry was starting to enjoy himself. Although Ruth was still weak she'd been given the all clear by the doctor. Plenty of gentle exercise was his only stipulation, she mustn't stay in bed. The food was remarkably good and served in a proper dining room with individual tables, in fact the whole place was nothing like the ghastly institution that Harry had always imagined it to be. There was a great deal to recommend it.

The heady days and love filled nights of their week in France were still some way off, but it was giving them the opportunity to get to know each other properly without the dreadful self-imposed restraints of the past. Having believed that she had lost him forever, even with his injuries and his arm in a sling, a casually dressed Harry was an absolute turn on as far as Ruth was concerned. Harry, equally enamoured didn't care what Ruth was dressed in as long as he was allowed to look at her wearing it. More importantly, they had finally stopped hiding and were openly showing their feelings.

From Diana Jewell's perspective, it made a pleasant change to have some charges that she could observe without the responsibility. She'd known Harry for years of course and over that time she'd heard more rumours than she'd had hot dinners. One of her pet hates had always been gossip mongers and the Harry that she was watching now with Ruth, was so far removed from what she had heard as to make it ridiculous. He was caring and attentive, the perfect gentleman in every sense of the word and so obviously spoken for. Ruth was a lucky girl, in more ways than one she suspected, but she had work to do and she mustn't get distracted.

It was this Harry who having enjoyed yet another cooked breakfast, was walking with his arm around Ruth's shoulders to a quiet corner of the garden. If the last few weeks had taught him anything, then it was that there was more to life than MI5. As Ruth opened her book and began to read, he closed his eyes and started to dream.

* * *

Alec, who Adam had at first doubted, was proving to be worth his weight in gold. The grid was running like a well-oiled machine. He had just enough bite to get people to do what he wanted which was essential in the current circumstances when someone was actively attempting to destroy the section. With Harry and Ruth now safe, Adam and the other field agents were free to concentrate on finding their aggressors.

'Blake's mine,' said an adamant Juliet, 'it's just a case of how do I land him Adam?'

'Well unless anyone one else has a better idea, let's not complicate things, I'll just ring him. I'll tell him that we've got some more information, but that it's not something that we can discuss over the phone.'

'But we haven't,' piped in Jo, 'or have we?'

'We'll make it up, he'll never know the difference and even if he realises that we're bluffing, he'll be distracted for long enough so that you can land him as you call it.'

'Taylor or Millington,' said Adam, turning back to Jo and Beth, 'take your pick.'

Leaving his colleagues to sort out the final arrangements, Adam headed into the technical suite to see Malcolm. He and Tariq had never given up and were steadily piecing together the most recently resurrected footage from the night of the kidnapping. Harry's Range Rover filled the screen.

'Give yourselves a break for a moment chaps, I need a small selection from your toy box,' he told them, going on to explain their plans.

'Sorry to pester, but Harry and Ruth, are they really fine?' asked a still anxious Malcolm.

'They're more than fine. Harry's got a phone with just one number which is mine, so promise me again that you won't be tempted to contact them.' Was his essential message.

Gathering up the box of trackers, he headed back into the meeting room where his colleagues were still discussing the finer points. They'd decided that for maximum impact then rather than ring ahead and make their appointments, that surprise visits to their targets would be more effective.

Beth had contacted Dimitri and told him that she and Jo would be arriving together and what they needed him to do. He confirmed that Taylor had just returned from an early meeting away from Whitehall and was in the press office, but that he hadn't seen hide nor hair of Millington. Cars arriving at the Whitehall car parks always appeared on the security cameras, so in an effort to create their element of surprise, Adam and Juliet taking a different route to their colleagues, were also travelling by public transport.

Having told Taylor that the PM wanted to see him, Dimitri was accompanying him along the corridor towards his office. Walking towards them, Jo and Beth deep in conversation looked every bit the inexperienced junior staff that they were impersonating. Just before they reached their quarry Jo stumbled and fell, and as Taylor and Dimitri bent to help her, Beth made the drop.

The Home Office, an entirity in itself was a further fifty metres along the road from the main building. Showing their passes to the security staff on the door, Adam and Juliet were approaching the Home Secretary's office, when they heard raised female voices. Julia Blake appeared to be in a full blown argument with her husband's secretary and demanding to see him.

'I'm sorry Mrs. Blake, I haven't seen him all day,' from his beleaguered secretary, sent alarm bells ringing for Adam and Juliet.

'Excuse me Mrs Blake, Security Services,' said Adam, as Juliet stepped in to pacify her and offered to find her a cup of tea. Thinking she was in trouble, his once confidential secretary who until recently had been privy to everything that her boss did, confessed that she didn't know where he was and that she hadn't seen him for two days. Leaving her to deal with a now hysterical Julia Blake, Adam and Juliet offered their apologies and headed back to the lift and out into the street.

* * *

Nicholas Blake was teetering on the edge. In addition to the fact that Tessa had threatened to kill him and that his wife had threatened to leave him, he was also right in his assumption that the security services were on to him and that the net was closing in. Whilst his wife was berating his secretary and Adam and Juliet were racing back to the grid, he was at home and frantically packing for his new life in the sun. Having virtually bankrupted himself on what he now knew to have been a ridiculous endeavour, his day which up to now had been about as bad as it could get, was just about to get a whole lot worse.

His passport was in the safe in his office.


	11. Chapter 11

'Thirty years we've been married and this is what I get,' said Julia Blake, waving the note that Nicholas had left her. 'Are you married?' she asked Julliet, as she picked her way through her husband's desk, in an attempt to find anything that would offer them a clue as to where he might have gone.

'Mercifully no, although I was once, men can be such dreadfully cruel creatures can't they,' said her under pressure and gushing visitor as she turned on the charm.

They needed to find out where Blake might have gone and they needed to know now, but getting any information out of the woman who'd come home to find her marital bedroom ransacked and her husband's belongings gone, was proving more difficult than they'd anticipated.

'Ask her about happier times, places where they used to go on holiday, relatives or friends that he might have gone to,' said Adam's voice in her ear.

'Is there anyone I could ring for you, family or friends for instance?' Brought another outpouring of tears as she explained that they were childless because Nicholas hadn't wanted children, and that her older sister who was her only friend, would say 'I told you so,' because she thought that Nicholas was a bastard.

'Blimey,'echoed Adams voice.

'Oh you poor dear,' continued the persistent Juliet, who was struggling to stay sympathetic. 'You must have been happy in the early days weren't you, where did you go for your holidays, I assume that you had some?' Had the exhausted Mrs. Blake, reaching for a photograph album before slumping into a chair.

'Take what you like, take it all if you want to,' she whimpered, waving her arm at Juliet who was standing by his desk, itching to shovel everything into a bag and get back to Thames House.

* * *

Alan Taylor had fled his office the moment that the news had filtered through. The parliamentary grapevine was second to none, and it had taken less taken less than ten minutes until the entire building had known that the Home Secretary was missing. Linked to the grid via his tracker, Malcolm had been monitoring his progress. He lived south of the river and as Malcolm watched, the small red dot beeped its way across Westminster Bridge and then turned in the direction of the London Eye. It appeared that he was heading towards home, until suddenly for no apparent reason, he changed direction and disappeared down a flight of steps and into the nearest underground station. They'd lost him.

* * *

The grid was a hive of activity, and whilst Alec was talking to the port authorities and the security staff at the channel tunnel, Malcolm was ringing the airports. Tariq had abandoned the technical suite and their continuing footage and was checking the cctv outside the front of Blake's house. There was plenty of activity, but nothing that showed that Blake had either arrived or left.

'Anything?' asked Alec hopefully, leaning over Tariq's shoulder as Tariq shook his head. 'Before she leaves, ask Juliet to have a good look around and then tell her we need her back here,' he told him.

'Meeting room now,' shouted Adam to Jo and Beth, who having reappeared on the grid were heading towards their desks. 'We don't have time to wait for Juliet,' he snapped at Jo unnecessarily, when she suggested that they should wait until she'd arrived.

'Every time we gain the initiative we seem to be thwarted,' was a throwaway comment by Alec to no one in particular, which went nowhere in terms of improving Adam's mood.

'May I say something? asked Beth, before pausing to see if Adam was prepared to listen or was going to snap her head off before she continued. He nodded.

'We're all agreed that there's a missing link, or to be precise a missing person that we haven't identified. Now if I'd been Blake and I'd wanted to eliminate the Prime Minister, then I'd have targeted him on his own. But he didn't. I'm not making excuses for him and I'm as keen as the next person that we bring him down, but why on earth so soon after the Davey King incident, would he have been stupid enough to go after Harry? He would have known that he'd be the first person that we'd go to. It's only an idea, but just suppose that the person he went to for help manipulated him from the start, and it wasn't until the point of no return that he found out that Harry and Ruth were going to be with the Prime Minister? More importantly and assuming I'm right, then it's this person that was targeting Harry and probably still is.'

Whether or not Beth's assessment about Blake was correct or not, it became secondary. She'd highlighted the fact that Harry and Ruth weren't safe wherever they were, not even at Tring.

Trying to stay calm and to control his mounting anxiety, Adam weighed up how best to deploy the resources that he had. They needed to man the grid, pursue Blake who Malcolm had confirmed hadn't left the country, but most importantly they had to protect Harry and Ruth and they needed to be quick. Telling Jo and Beth to get ready to go to Tring, he sent Malcolm and Tariq back to their footage with the explicit instructions to find him a face, whilst he sat down to talk to Alec and Juliet.

'Feel free to comment and tell me if you can think of a better way to handle this, but I need to stay on the grid,' brought no argument. 'I want you two to go through whatever it is that Juliet's brought back with her and then go after Blake wherever his is. Short of killing him I'll leave it up to you. Just remember that we need him in one piece, he's going to stand trial. I'm going to have to speak to Diana Jewell and then to Harry, we can hardly have CO19 crawling all over a secure building filled with god knows how many traumatised operatives, can you imagine the consequences?'

* * *

It wasn't an easy conversation, but Diana finally agreed that CO19 could patrol the exterior walls but unless there was a real threat to life, that Adam had to promise that they wouldn't come anywhere near the house. She'd go and find Harry and Ruth and transfer them into the Annexe and providing that Jo and Beth didn't mind sharing a bedroom, then it was the obvious place for them as well.

They'd had a wonderfully peaceful day, doing virtually nothing apart from relaxing in the garden, coming indoors at lunchtime and then despite Harry's injuries, getting reacquainted with each other in their room. It was amazing how inventive you could be if determined, and Harry had more than surpassed himself on that particular front. The last thing he'd expected when he was exiting the shower, having had Ruth wrap a towel around his waist due to the fact that he still couldn't use one of his arms, was to receive a phone call from Adam. It was the tone of his response to what Adam was saying and the fact there was the slightest hesitation in his voice that alerted Ruth to the fact that something was wrong. Within seconds she was throwing their things into their luggage and waiting for Diana to knock on their door.

The annexe, a small single story building, was attached to and accessed via the main house and generally used by family members who were visiting. It was a completely self- contained unit, with a small sitting room, a kitchen, a bathroom and two reasonable sized bedrooms. The only other entrance/exit was situated in a small vestibule at the back, so the security should be simple.

Quite how Harry would cope with living with three women for an unspecified amount of time Ruth had no idea, and if they didn't already know, the cat would certainly be out of the bag that they were sleeping together. In the past, if you'd asked her if she minded she'd have said yes, whereas now she was confident in her own skin and was somehow relishing the fact. The only problem was that she could envisage Harry wanting to protect her, when in reality he couldn't. For the first time ever he was going to have to rely on his staff and female ones at that. She just needed to convince him not to do anything stupid and end up with further injuries or worse still what she really feared, get himself killed.

By the time that Jo and Beth arrived, it was almost time for dinner. Diana had suggested that to avoid anyone other than those who needed to know, realising that the annexe was occupied, that after this dinner she'd supply what ever they needed to self - cater.

If it hadn't been for the seriousness of the situation it would have been laughable as Harry watched on at the three of them chatting together.

Whilst Jo and Beth put their bags in their bedroom and then discussed the security as they acquainted themselves with the layout of the building, Ruth and Harry made friends with the kitchen. It was spacious and very well equipped so by the time that Diana delivered their dinner, the table was set for four and they were more than ready to eat.

Contrary to Ruth's concerns, Harry had accepted that he wasn't the boss in this situation and was more than confident to let Jo take charge. She was a protege of Adam who he trusted implicitly and providing she kept Ruth safe which was his only concern, he was happy. He would do what he was asked to, which in this case was that he and Ruth use the bathroom first and get ready for bed.

With Harry and Ruth now safe, having locked the door behind them, Jo and Beth had taken themselves outside to look at the layout of the garden.

'I'll take the first shift until three,' Jo told her, then I'll wake you at eight at the latest. We'll keep our bedroom door because if someone does come for Ruth and Harry, we have to presume that it will be soon and at night.'

In the distance although they couldn't see them, a small group from CO19 were patrolling the perimeter fence. In the morning another group would replace them.

Ruth was asleep, curled into Harry's side, but Harry wasn't.


	12. Chapter 12

'We've got him,' Adam shouted, punching his fist in the air and smiling for the first time in days. A police patrol car had spotted Blake's Mercedes, three hours north of London and travelling at speed.

Thanking them and confirming that they wanted him monitored but on no account stopped, Adam told Juliet and Alec to gather their things together. They'd already packed their overnight bags and a whole lot more besides, none of which he wanted to know about. Linked via comms to every police forced in England and now what was probably Scotland, Adam or more precisely Malcolm would be able to follow Blake and report his whereabouts to his pursuers. Driving in Judith's car because Alec's wouldn't have made it beyond central London, unlike the fleeing Blake they would be exempt the speed limits.

Prior to them leaving, they'd spent a frustrating couple of hours searching through his belongings. A letter from his bank manager had confirmed nothing other than what they suspected that he was very short of funds, but unfortunately no evidence as to who his co - conspirator was. The photograph albums had given them their only possible clue. In one that was labelled holiday snaps, there was a picture of a very young Blake with who they presumed to be his parents and much younger sibling. On a later page a now much older Blake stood with the same group of people in front of a very large house, with a backdrop of what they now knew to be Scottish moorland and a loch. A brief phone call by Juliet to Julia Blake had confirmed that it had been his grandmother's home, its approximate location and the fact that the nearest neighbours were several miles away.

'Keep in touch and remember don't do anything stupid,' were Adam's last instructions, to the unlikely couple that were striding towards the pods.

Driving for hours in the dark and faced with a long and tiring journey, the last of which would be across miles of barren and inhospitable countryside, an overnight stop was inevitable. Their need to stay as inconspicuous as possible, had Tariq doing what Tariq did best. He was multi - tasking. With one eye still searching for 'the face' that Adam demanded, the other was researching small and off the beaten track B&Bs at a halfway point. Estimating that they could be as much as four hours behind Blake wasn't a problem. They had all the time in the world, whereas he didn't.

* * *

By the time that it reached two in the morning, it was obvious that this was going to turn into one of Adam's proverbial _we're in for the long haul_ nights. Having rung Jo to confirm that Harry and Ruth were alright and Wes's child minder to say goodnight, he'd abandoned Harry's office and joined his colleagues on the grid. After the chaos and uncertainty of the past couple of weeks, they'd reached the stage where a sense of finality hung in the air. Blake was done for in all senses of the word they all knew that, but it was Adams overwhelming concern about Harry that was still weighing heavy. Apart from Wes, who Adam as a father would have given his life for, there was no one apart from Harry that shone as bright in his life. He was everything that Adam aspired to and he knew without a doubt that if they lost him, that section D would change for ever.

This one single thought hit him with an uncomfortable revelation. Whoever this was, they weren't just going after Harry, it was a deliberate attempt to destabilise his section. It was someone that knew everything about them, that would know how to get into their data bases and into their systems. It was one of their own that they were chasing. Completely forgetting that Malcolm had been there since the mists of time, he took himself back into Harry's office and turned on his computer. Faces from the past flooded onto the screen. Ros or Zaf who as yet might still be alive, he couldn't bring himself to believe that it was either of them. He stole himself against the fact that Fiona's face was looking back at him, and as he did almost every night, he told her that he wished she was still there to help him and asked her to forgive him. It had to be further back than them, it had to be, but who? He finally found what he was looking for, a much younger looking Harry. Far less careworn and with a lot more hair, looking for all the world like the soldier he'd once been. It was at this point that he needed to start.

There was far too much reading and it was a further hour by which time Malcolm had come in to join him, that they made their breakthrough. He'd reached the point that preceded Ruth and then him joining the section. There had been a huge changeover in such a short space of time, with the loss of Tom then Zoey and Danny which he could remember so vividly. Hidden in amongst all of these, there was someone who hadn't been so high profile and that he'd never met.

'Tell me about Tessa Phillips,' he asked Malcolm.

* * *

Harry was still awake when he heard Jo's phone ring. Despite him trying to pretend that he wasn't frightened, he knew he was failing. If anything happened to Ruth he'd go out of his mind, he truly believed that. He'd lain there for hours, imagining all the dreadful scenarios where she would be taken from him again, all the time savouring every second that he was holding her against him. Of one thing he was absolutely certain, she was part of him now. She'd gently burrowed her way deep into his very soul and they were bound together forever. If she truly wanted him after all the terrible things that he'd put her through, then when this was over, whatever she wanted to do and wherever she wanted to go he'd take her. He was quitting MI5.

He was dragged back to reality by a gentle tapping. Infiltrators tended not to knock and it was Jo's head that appeared round their door.

'Harry,' she told him through the darkness, 'we need to talk.'

'I'm not leaving her, even for a minute,' was said with such a desperate need in his voice, that Jo heard herself whispering back.

'That's fine Harry, Beth's on duty, we can talk in here.'

Adam had asked her to ascertain if there was anything in Harrys and Tessa's history, other than of course her dismissal, that might have made her resentful enough to want to kill him or Ruth, but not only that to destroy the section.

'It happened a long time ago,' he told her, going on to explain how they had been the only two people on the grid late one night. 'Tessa came into my office which wasn't extraordinary in itself, but then without any warning, well, without going into details she tried to seduce me. It was dreadfully embarrassing, more so for her than for me I imagine, and things became very difficult after that. The fact that I'd made it quite clear that I wasn't interested and then Ruth not only replaced her as my analyst but gained what she must have perceived to be my affection, may well mean that Adam's right.'

Affection was such an old fashioned expression, but so very Harry, she thought. He and Ruth, it was so much more than that.

'I need to know that you trust me Harry,' she told him. 'I'm going to talk to Adam and get him to send Dimitri here and I promise you we'll keep Ruth safe.'

* * *

At the same time as the occupants of the annexe who had been joined by Dimitri were finishing their breakfast, Juliet and Alec who had spent a less than comfortable night in a dingy B&B, were back on the road and close to where the English border crossed into Scotland. Having declined breakfast before they left, they'd stopped for coffee and to re affirm their tactics. Whatever they inflicted on Blake had to be put down as the result of a mugging, before he was unceremoniously handed over to the authorities. When they were within five miles of their destination, Malcolm confirmed that Blake had been there for some hours. He'd been observed by the local constabulary, carrying not only a couple of cases but what appeared to be a large box of groceries.

There was a brisk wind blowing across a cloudless sky, rarely seen in and around the area where Nicholas Blake was making himself his mid - morning coffee. Idiot that he was, he was chuckling to himself as he contemplated his wife free future. He was away from London and all the razzmatazz that went with being the Home Secretary, he was content. Money might be scarce for a while, but he'd made hundreds in the past by stepping outside the so called legal boundaries, and he was more than confident that he could do it again. If he holed up here for a while until the heat died down as it invariably would, he would still be able to find his way to a life in the sun.

Assuming that it was the postman or the lady that came to do their cleaning from time to time, he opened the front door without a second thought. The fist that caught him full square in the middle of his face and broke his nose belonged to Alec, but the pain that came with it was nothing compared to the vice like grip that Juliet inflicted, that had him hanging on to what was left of his testicles.

As the room spun in front of him and just before he passed out, he could vaguely hear a voice telling him that he'd got his wish and that he wouldn't be having children.

* * *

In London, a grateful and delighted PM was congratulating Adam and his section and offering them all his support in their quest to protect Ruth and Harry.


	13. Chapter 13

Unlike Harry who had still been wide awake, Ruth had been asleep until Jo had knocked on their door. This was a conversation between a boss and a colleague which wasn't her concern anymore. None the less she'd been compelled to listen. She had absolutely no doubt that what Harry had told Jo about Tessa had been the truth, but it was beyond her comprehension that someone especially a woman could be so vindictive and if Adam was right so dangerous. Harry had been betrayed yet again and at the highest level and if Zoey hadn't been honest with him, he'd never have found out. This threw a whole new light on his fragility and explained why he was so short on trust and belief in his fellow man. What had he once said to her, 'self - control, self – denial, that's what keeps us together'. Well this went a long way to explaining the reason that he'd been so guarded and moreover was a minor miracle, that he'd wanted to commit to their relationship.

Having watched their three colleagues head out into the garden to discuss the current security arrangements, they were finally on their own. Pursuing what was now an intimate relationship had been difficult enough given Harry's injuries, but it had become even more complicated by the need to share what amounted to a small flat with their two younger colleagues. Added to that, it had been three days since they'd had a bedroom in the main house where they'd had privacy and found a way to adapt. Maybe it was because the physical aspect of their relationship was so new, or that Ruth now knew that they shared a mutual fear of losing one another, that their mounting desire had reached boiling point. It was one of those unspoken moments where words weren't necessary and the 'what ifs' become irrelevant. From where she was sitting or more precisely lying, aching with the want of him as he released himself inside her, she really didn't care. Tessa was history or soon would be. Harry was hers as much as she was his and in this act of uncontrollable passion, she needed this moment as much as he did.

* * *

Jo on the other hand was currently battling with a crisis of self –confidence and had pleaded with Adam to send her more help. Hearing that Blake had been captured and was currently travelling back to London with Juliet and Alec had been a huge relief, but then to have it confirmed by Harry that what Adam believed to be a sideways plot by Tessa, was terrifying. If only she could keep Harry and Ruth safe for another twelve hours, Adam had promised that Alec who was essential to their plans would be joining them.

Having done their tour of the gardens and grounds in order that Dimitri could familiarise himself with the layout and the exact location of the CO19 operatives, they'd wandered back to the annexe. Rather than disturb Harry and Ruth who she was fairly sure had disappeared into their bedroom for something other than a snooze, she'd made the coffee and had joined her colleagues who were sitting outside.

'I don't look remotely like Ruth,' Beth protested, when she explained that Adam proposed that she and Alec should take Harry and Ruth's place each night.

'This is a life and death situation, I don't have time for this and unless you've got a better idea,' was added with an icy stare that would have done Ros proud.

'Alec's the closest in build we've got to Harry, and you with a dark wig and nothing else showing because you're going to be in bed, is Adam's solution, so we stick to it,' ended the conversation.

They couldn't take any chances, because if Tessa was as well informed about this as she seemed to have been about everything else, then they were pretty sure that she'd know that Harry and Ruth had been moved into the annexe. Well not anymore, because at the end of each day she was going to move them back into their original room where Dimitri would look after them, which would leave her Alec and Beth, plus CO19 to deal with whatever Tessa planned to throw at them.

* * *

Nicholas Blake was in pain, he had been for the seven hours of the journey when he'd been cable tied at the wrists and with a bag over his head. Juliet had driven as quickly as humanly possible until they'd reached the outskirts of London, where they'd been escorted by Special Branch into the bowels of Thames House. Marched between two anonymous agents he'd been taken to an interrogation suite where he'd been allowed a drink of water but nothing more. If he thought that Juliet was his worst possible nightmare he'd been wrong, it was Charles Gray and his box of tricks that stepped forward to greet him.

'Nicholas isn't it,' said Gray with a leer, showing no respect to his latest what he liked to refer to as customers. Blake, who was naked as the day he been born apart from the thin covering that they'd afforded him, felt his insides constricting and managed nothing more than a nod.

Juliet who had stayed in the room in order to glean any information that was forthcoming had heard about but never witnessed any of Gray's methods. By the time that he'd finished with Blake she was swearing on her mother's grave, that she'd never do anything that would result in her being subjected to this kind of torture. The indignity of it was terrifying. Blake had squealed like a pig, cried for his mother and finally agreed to tell them what they wanted. Leaving her with Blake Gray had departed, but not before he'd given her one of his ghastly smiles.

'Yes it was Tessa, and yes Harry or Ruth she didn't mind which were her targets,' was divulged with a collection of adjectives, 'and yes, Tessa did know they were at Tring but he didn't know how.'

'Come on Nicholas you can do better than that,' Juliet spat back at him, demanding he give her a list of Tessa's assets. 'Worrying that Tessa would kill him would be a merciful release compared to what they had planned for him,' finally produced what she wanted. 'There were six of them, they were on a list somewhere maybe in her office or on her computer,' had Adam who had been watching from the grid shouting for Tariq and Malcolm.

Having thrown Blake into a holding cell with a guard keeping an eye on him, a now exhausted Juliet headed out of Thames House and in the direction of Tessa's office.

* * *

With the information that they had, Tariq and Malcolm were trying everything in their considerable armoury to break into her coded files, but for the life of them didn't understand why they were failing. They were running out of time and needed someone with an analytical mind and that meant they needed use Ruth. It would be breaking all protocols, she no longer worked for MI5 and if at a later date Tessa were to appear in court or at a tribunal, any half decent lawyer given the right information, would be able to rubbish their evidence. They needed a way round this and given the current circumstances they needed to use Harry. If he was the one to carry out the research but at all stages he followed Ruth's instructions, they'd be covered. When it came to getting into systems Ruth was the best in the book and there'd been hundreds of times when they'd had to rely on her ability. Adam rang Harry.

As Harry continued to type, he was stunned by how and what Ruth was able to uncover. She knew how easy it was to falsify a personal file, and as they dug deeper it became evident that Tessa had certainly done plenty of that. For years, even before she had joined MI5, using several different names, she'd committed and got away with a multitude of dodgy and fraudulent activities. For years and certainly during the time that she'd been his analyst, she'd been manipulating the system for her own gain. As the afternoon progressed and Beth plied them with tea, by process of elimination Ruth watched as a pattern emerged. She'd never failed to come up with an answer, and she'd found one now.

The list that Harry sent to Malcolm and Tariq contained more than thirty names, far too many for them to be able to track down in what now was a limited space of time. Based on what they were reading, Ruth suggested that they broke it down into age groups, current addresses and presumed physical abilities until they had ten. It took them a while, by which time it was too late and impossible to do anything about it before the onset of another night.

* * *

Dimitri's arrival and the need for him to occupy a bedroom in the main house, required Diana Jewell's agreement that he pose as a resident. With Adam's promise that they had a substantial lead and he was confident that they would be out of her hair sooner rather than later, she'd reluctantly agreed. Now that Alec had also arrived, there were six of them sharing what was in effect accommodation that was designed for four. Given that one of the six was Harry who was used to living alone and had a private office where he could gaze out over his kingdom, Jo thought he was coping remarkably well. Obviously wanting to stay close to Ruth he'd wandered into the kitchen where they were preparing their evening meal, while Alec and Beth were discussing their sleeping arrangements and Dimitri had taken theirs and his things, through to the main house.

Please let this be over soon thought Jo, glancing over at the couple she was trying to protect.


	14. Chapter 14

They were tired, they were stressed and after yet another night when no one apart from Ruth and Harry had had any sleep, they were running on empty. A concerned and exhausted Jo had turned to Harry for a solution, whereby without compromising their security, he and Ruth could become part of the surveillance. Unsurprisingly given what they had been through, the only way that she'd been able to get him to agree, was to assure him that he and Ruth would be able to work together. She'd watched him watching Ruth and never once had he let her out of his sight. Having put together a rota whereby besides them, two at a time they could grab some sleep, she'd arranged an early briefing.

Having had his breakfast in the main house and a brief chat with Diana, Dimitri was the last to arrive. Not surprisingly, Alec who was also late was still tucking into his food. Feeling like the new boy and a bit of a get to know you chat, Dimitri poured a cup coffee and wandered over to join him. Having been outside for some fresh air and a chat, when Harry and Ruth walked past them in the opposite direction, Alec speaking under his breath, made what Dimitri considered to be an unnecessary and completely inappropriate suggestion.

'Yes mate, and she's very much out of your league,' Dimitri told him, as he watched Alec's head tilt to one side with an appreciative stare at Ruth's departing figure.

'She's his analyst, they come and they go,' Alec suggested with a knowing look in his eyes, 'and let's face it I'm younger than him.'

And soon to be dead if he catches you thought Dimitri, going on to tell him that he had no idea what he was talking about.

Having spent a week with the Prime Minister, there was virtually nothing that Dimitri didn't know about Harry Pearce and Ruth Evershed. The man had given a lifetime of service and up until now, had lost virtually everything that he'd ever had. Not withstanding the fact that they'd been locked in a watery cell for nearly a week, Michael Rodgers had said that it had been a real privilege to have spent some time with him. Ruth Evershed he had described as an absolute gem and one of the bravest and most compassionate women you could wish to meet. If any couple deserved to be together and have a long a happy life, then it was them. It had been a glowing and truly heartfelt summation and it had really got under Dimitri's skin. Alec was an prat and unlike him had no ambition. He'd been more than happy when Adam had told him that he was going to Tring, with the specific purpose of being their private protection.

Leaving Alec to ponder and if he had any sense take on board what he had said, he went back upstairs to catch up with his charges and to tell them that he and Jo were going off duty for a few hours, but if they needed anything that he was only a stone's throw away.

* * *

Less than two miles down the road in a small and scruffy bed sit that she'd rented, Tessa was getting ready for her day. An indefinite tenancy and that she wanted to be left alone, had been the stipulations to her seedy looking landlord when she'd handed him a handful of cash sufficient for the first month. There had been no contract, the place was so awful that she wondered if there had even been a previous tenant, but having given it a reasonably good clean and using her own bed linen, it was serving its purpose. Booked in as Ms Wild, she was combining a birdwatching holiday with visiting friends who lived locally, and with her recently shortly cut and dyed hair she was supremely confident that she wouldn't be recognised.

Two days earlier she'd travelled back to London to empty and then ransack what had once been her office, before having one last meeting with her assets and cutting all communications until the big day. Recent events had taught her to be wary of everybody and God help anyone who had grassed her up to those buggers at Thames House. Nicholas hadn't talked she knew that, because he'd rung her just after he'd arrived at his house in Scotland, or scot free as the idiot now called it. She was home and dry.

Her objective was as it had been for almost every day since she'd been there. Posing as a tourist or local depending on her legend on the day, she would walk both the available routes into and out of the village, popping into the churchyard as if visiting a grave, reading the notices that talked about future events and as she passed the gates to the house, assess if anything had changed. In various guises, she'd varied the times that she'd done it. A visiting aunt collecting her nephew from nursery had been her favourite so far, when an elderly couple who were walking their dog had stopped to talk to her. Watching from the woods that bordered the house on two sides, she'd counted the number of CO19 operatives and knew exactly the time that their shifts started and ended. They wouldn't be her problem her lads would be dealing with them, but none the less she wanted to keep on top of things. Scaling the exterior wall at a blind spot that she had discovered would have been her preferred method of entry and it irked her that she wasn't capable of doing that any more. That left her two other options, one of which was to wait until her lads were creating their diversion and then brazenly walk through the main gates or to arrive through a small but hidden gate via the churchyard. She was almost as fit as she had been when she'd first joined five, the wretched annual assessments that they put you through had seen to that. Dressed entirely in black, there wasn't one single reason why either of the two distracted young spooks would see her coming.

* * *

Having got Blake's confession, Millington was no longer a threat but had become an asset. As Juliet had so succinctly put it, he would be useful for years to come. Promising him exemption from prosecution if he not only confirmed the whereabouts of Alan Taylor but what Adam most wanted, a guaranteed publicity embargo on the current situation, he'd obliged without question. He would ensure that there were no headlines in the papers or announcements on the television that the police had raided several houses in an around central London and had taken in several suspects for questioning. Secondly and essential to the continuing stability of the section , was that when the op was concluded, he would publish a glowing article that the recently maligned security forces should be commended, not only for preventing an atrocity that would have taken dozens of lives, but had saved the life of their Country's Prime Minister.

Now resigned to his fate, Taylor had been exactly where Millington had told them he would be, hiding in a house that belonged to one of Tessa's assets. Rounding them up and bringing them in had been left to Special Branch and for the remainder of the day they'd been questioned and cross questioned by Adam and Juliet. Their conflicting stories and their attempts to point the finger at anyone rather than themselves had led Adam and Juliet to the same conclusion, and they now knew the how and hopefully they knew the when. Abandoning them in the holding cells to rot alongside Nicholas Blake, Adam reached for his phone and rang Jo and then Harry.

* * *

Despite everyone's attempt to lighten the mood, the atmosphere around the dinner table was tense. As Harry listened to them talking, he became increasingly confident that despite their lack of experience, this young group of colleagues were more than capable of protecting both Ruth and him and in addition detain Tessa. Jo's plan was a sound one and everyone had been deployed to the best of their ability. Not only that, it heartened him to think that in the future when he'd gone, that the section would be in good hands.

Varying the time as they had done every night, it was at 10pm that they turned off the lights as if going to bed. Knowing that Tessa would be coming alone they had revised their plans so that the annexe would be empty and Alec and Beth could be join their colleagues outside. With the exception of Ruth, they were all armed although that was as a last resort. They all knew exactly what they were required to do and despite Ruth's very emotional protest which none of them had witnessed, that now included Harry.

It was at 3am just as the church clock was striking its relentless hourly chime, that Beth spotted a movement. She, Jo and Alec were stationed at the front and sides of the house whilst Dimitri was at the back, leaving the now darkened annexe unguarded. As soon as the residents of the main house had gone to their rooms, it had been barricaded like Fort Knox with two from CO19 and Harry on watch inside. Spirited away into Diana Jewell's apartment, a now very unhappy Ruth, separated from Harry for the first time in over a week, was imagining what to her would be impossible to cope with, a life on her own if she were to lose Harry again.

Just as Tessa had planned it, all hell broke loose around the perimeter fence, as what were left of CO19 enacted what sounded like a full blown riot. While Beth stood stock still, Jo instructed Alec and Dimitri to stay exactly where they were while she moved round to join her colleague. The small buttresses that supported the wall gave them sufficient cover to watch who they knew to be Tessa, make steady progress across the garden in the direction of the annexe. Completely unaware that the majority of Section D was within seconds of where she was heading, she took one last look around before racing the last few metres. Using the tried and tested method and with not so much as a look behind her, she unlocked the door.


	15. Chapter 15

Damaged through no fault of his own, Christopher Henry, a once bright eyed and eager operative of Five, was just another in the long line of faceless souls that had arrived and then left. Above all else, at the top of the long list of his misfortunes, was the fact that as a young and eager recruit, Tessa Phillips had crossed his path. Already disillusioned and searching for assets of her own, she had recognised and encouraged his vulnerability, until without even knowing it he'd flown unbidden like a butterfly into her net. Witnessing his wife and his closest friend die in circumstances that he believed he should have been able to prevent had been the tipping point, which was why for the past two years he'd been a resident at Tring. Medicated he was rational and totally harmless, whereas without it he was as unpredictable as the weather.

He'd watched the merry go round, in and out, in and out he'd sung in his head, as Harry and Ruth had moved back and forth between their two rooms. He knew that this shouldn't be happening and that these were the people that Tessa didn't like, which meant that he didn't like them either. They weren't supposed to be in the house today, it was all very confusing and perhaps Tessa needed his help, but why hadn't she called him? It didn't matter anyway, she was his friend and he'd do what he thought that she wanted.

The riot that her friends were causing sounded like fun, just as she'd told him. It was annoying though, because his room was at the back of the house and he wanted to be able to watch it. Never mind, if he put his dressing gown on and went down to the ground floor where Diana lived, she'd have to let him see it. He'd make her.

* * *

Staying awake was in Diana's case proving difficult. It was the middle of the night, after what had been a long and stressful day. Ruth was having no such trouble, she was running on pure adrenalin and sick with worry about Harry. She shouldn't have got angry with him, he was supporting his team as he always did, and more importantly she should have told him that she loved him. The noise that had been going on outside had been much lounder than she'd anticipated and very impressive given that it was only four men. Looking at her watch, it had been over fifteen minutes since the noise had stopped, so she imagined that the team must had found Tessa and were winding down. Totally unlike her and without thinking before she did it, she assumed that it was Harry and opened the door.

Unable to react quickly enough and with Diana too far away to help her, she felt herself being grabbed by her hair and then dragged across the room before being slammed down into a chair. Her head was spinning, it was happening again, she wanted Harry. In the background she could vaguely hear Diana's voice, talking to someone called Christopher and pleading with him to put down the knife.

* * *

After what had been the completion of a successful operation and with Tessa on her way back to London with CO19, the now relieved and elated members of the team were getting ready to party, albeit on coffee and tea.

'Go and see if Ruth's awake and then come back and join us if you want to,' Jo suggested to Harry, 'or if not we'll see you in the morning.'

Deciding that it would probably be the morning, he thanked them all for their efforts and wished them goodnight. Why would he want to pretend to party with a group of twenty year olds when he could be in bed with Ruth for the rest of the night. It was a no brainer as Adam always told him, although it had been kind of them to ask. Humming quietly to himself, he threw the protective vest that he'd been wearing onto their bed and headed back downstairs to collect Ruth. At last this wretched episode was over and they could go back to London and make plans for their future.

It was Diana who opened the door, her face as white as a sheet and a finger to her lips indicating that he shouldn't speak. He couldn't have said a word if he'd tried because his Ruth, looking more frightened than he'd ever seen her, was sitting in a chair with a man who he didn't recognise who was holding a knife to her throat. He was paralysed with fear knowing that if he said a word, what he would witness would surpass all the terrible things that he had so far seen and would haunt him for the rest of his life.

'This is Christopher,' Diana said to him in a voice that sounded as normal as if she were making an ordinary introduction, 'he's a friend of Tessa's and he's asking to see her.'

'Tessa,' repeated Christopher, almost like a child being taught a new word, and then just as a child might continue, he started to sing. It was a nursery rhyme. 'Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,' he sang.

'Can we?' asked Diana, pointing between herself and Harry and then to the sofa, in the hope that Christopher might stop singing and calm down.

He nodded, but by this time he was into a second rendition and Harry has started to listen. It wasn't until it got to the final line that Harry realised the significance of what he was singing. 'All the Kings Horses and All the Kings Men couldn't put Humpty together again.' This lunatic whoever he was, was singing about him and his team.

He couldn't get sucked into this, he had to stay focused and what better way to do it than try and talk to Ruth.

Look at me Ruth and remember how much I love you was burning from Harry's eyes, with his hand placed firmly on his heart but the words unspoken. She gave him the briefest of smiles, that only someone that knew her as well as he did would discern. It was a messaging system that was theirs and theirs alone and he thanked God for it. He needed to keep her calm. He was playing for time. Waiting until Diana was distracting Christopher he smiled back, inclining his head with the briefest of nods. They were communicating as they always had.

* * *

An hour into their celebration, defeated and heading for bed, all bar Dimitri were of the firm opinion that Harry and Ruth were already asleep. For whatever reason perhaps because he was the new boy or because he still felt a sense of responsibility for his charges, he decided to knock on their door before turning in.

Taking the stairs two at a time, he flung open each and every door where his colleagues were undressing, yelling at them that Harry and Ruth were missing and to grab their firearms. Knowing that to look in every room would cause chaos, Jo instructed Beth and Alec to check the kitchens and communal rooms whilst she and Dimitri took a look outside. The moon had gone behind a cloud and even with their torches is was almost impossible to see where they were going as they cautiously picked their way around the outside of the house. Everything seemed as it should be and other than in the rooms where their colleagues were searching where they'd expect to see a light, the house was in darkness.

'Wait,' whispered Jo, just as they were about to turn round and go back inside.

As nimble as a cat and with his three colleagues watching on, Dimitri climbed up onto the window sill. Through the tiniest of gaps between two curtains and in his direct line of sight he could see the back of Ruth's head and someone sitting next to her who appeared to be singing. On the other side of the room, Harry and Diana were perched on the edge of the sofa although by the way they were sitting and staring at the man who was leaning on the arm of Ruth's chair, there was clearly something wrong. Harry's eyes had taken on a desperately haunted look and Dimitri needed to know why. He needed extra height and it felt like a lifetime before Alec returned with the ladder from the annexe.

'God almighty,' he whispered, his mouth had gone dry.

With the window shut, there was no possible way that they could deal with this situation from the outside, but to do it blind from inside presented all manner of problems. Dimitri was by far the best shot, but he was also the strongest when it came to breaking down a door. It was an almost impossible gamble but they had no other option. If they didn't act and act soon, then Ruth would surely die.

With their watches now synchronised and Beth doing the countdown, they were holding their breath. Two one go and Alec had tapped on the window, Dimitri had kicked open the door and Jo had taken the shot. Before anyone else had moved, Harry was out of his chair and had gathered Ruth in his arms, her face buried against his chest. Leaving them and giving them a few moments of privacy, Alec came back in and covered up Christopher's bloodied body, whilst Diana helped by Beth had gone upstairs to pacify the few residents who had assumed that the house was being attacked. Jo and Dimitri stood waiting outside until eventually Harry called them and they helped him take Ruth safely up the stairs and into their room. It was almost 6am.

'We'll be fine now,' Harry told them, thanking them again and nodding to them to go, before he turned his attention back to Ruth.

Five hours later when he was awake again he couldn't imagine how he'd managed to get her into bed, such was the state that she'd been in. He'd insisted that she'd had a warm drink and some stage Diana had produced a hot water bottle, but beyond that, his only recollection was of her uncontrollable sobs as he'd held her in his arms until she'd fallen asleep. How could it possibly be that this beautiful soul had been made to endure so many horrors, it just wasn't fair. Had he not already made up his mind to resign, he would have done it there and then.

She was remarkably resilient was his Ruth and true to form, by the time that they finally went back down to the annexe, although quiet, she was apparently coping as she always did. The others were finalising their packing and getting ready to drive back to London for a de briefing with Adam, but he and Ruth were heading home. Jo insisted that Dimitri should drive them and Harry was in no mood to argue.

If at any time during the years that were to follow that night, were you to ask either Jo or Dimitri or even Beth which had been the two weeks that had most shaped their lives, they would surely have quoted what had happened from the moment that the PM had been kidnapped until they had saved Ruth's life. That though was for the future, most important was the here and now.

 _JUST AN EPILOGUE TO COME._


	16. Chapter 16

A fluffy and fun last chapter which I hope you will enjoy.

* * *

Had it not been for the nightmare of the last couple of weeks, Harry would have brought Ruth back to London and at the start of this new week, would quite likely have been driving her into work. As it was he'd brought her breakfast in bed before kissing her gently and telling her that he'd be home as soon as possible, but that in the meantime she should make herself at home. Alone for the first time in a house that wasn't her own, despite him telling her to help herself she didn't feel comfortable . Finishing her breakfast and dragging herself out of bed to use the bathroom, she was heading downstairs in search of the kitchen when the doorbell rang. Recalling what had happened the last time that she'd opened a door assuming that it was Harry, she stayed where she was.

Realising why Ruth hadn't answered, Jo abandoned the bell and shouted to her through the letter box. Harry had rung her and asked her if she'd call, but typical of these two, he hadn't thought to tell Ruth.

Having Jo in the house certainly made her feel more confident and gave her the chance to talk to someone that she trusted. Once they'd jointly explored what Ruth hoped was to be her temporary home and she'd indulged herself with everything in Harry's bathroom, they raided his fridge and made themselves some sandwiches and a pot of tea.

It had been nearly two years since Ruth had thought in depth about her life in section D, other than her _could have been_ relationship with Harry. She'd schooled herself to bury those memories, it had been the only way she'd been able to cope and to hang onto the hope that Harry would stay alive. Listening to what Jo was telling her, only affirmed what she'd already decided. Nothing would persuade her to go back.

Jo told her how despite all their efforts they had failed to discover what had happened to Zaf. That they presumed that he was lost to them and how difficult it had been for her to accept. How when Fiona had died, Adam had been disillusioned and hadn't been able to cope, putting himself in all sorts of situations that threatened his life. How he and Ros had then grown close but when she'd had to go into exile they really believed it would be the final straw, but somehow or other he'd managed to come through it.

More recently, and here she paused, knowing that she needed to talk to Ruth about Harry.

'What we didn't realise and what we feel guilty about,' she told her, 'was that Harry was in a far darker place than Adam, but had succeeded in hiding it. We had no idea that he was going to walk out in front of Davey King, Malcolm was absolutely horrified. It was after that that he knew that he had to tell Harry where you were.'

'My turn I guess,' said Ruth, going on to tell her about the morning by the docks and how she truly believed that she'd never see Harry again, and then once she got to France despite all her best intentions, that she couldn't bring herself to go any further. How once Malcolm got in touch everything had changed and then when Harry had said that he was coming to see her, how nervous she had been.

'It was ridiculous I know, but once he arrived and without work to get in the way we finally came to our senses and exorcised our ridiculous demons, but then look what happened.'

'So what are you going to do, are you still planning on coming back to work?' asked Jo, not quite knowing where this was heading.

Given a choice I'd go back to France, thought Ruth, but she didn't voice it. 'I've absolutely no idea.' she said instead.

* * *

'Right everyone, back to work,' was Harry's opening salvo as he strode onto the grid, making it sound as though they'd all come back after a holiday, 'Adam, my office.'

Adam hadn't imagined for one moment that Harry would come into work at all today, but hey presto here he was, booted and suited and rounding up the troops as he always did.

'Ruth's still very upset, so I rang Jo and asked her to go round to see her. I hope that's alright with you?' Wasn't quite what Adam imagined he was going to say, never mind inferring that that he needed to ask his permission. 'I've also been to see the new Home Secretary, I think you'll both get on very well' he told him, 'and as from today, I don't officially work here anymore.'

He went on to tell him that the job was his if he wanted it, with the proviso that he was to retain Alec for at least another six months until his new recruits were bedded in. Jo might be very young but that she'd make a fine section chief given the right encouragement and he was sure that Adam would continue to mentor her through the early weeks and months.

Apart from saying thank you and shaking Harry's hand, a stunned Adam asked him the obvious question.

'What did Ruth say, when you told her about your decision?'

'Well I haven't yet,' made Adam wonder if Harry actually knew anything at all about women, but not only that how absolutely bloody suited he and Ruth were. They were as bad as each other.

'Are you planning on telling her any time soon?' was said in jest, but with no comprehension from Harry that Adam thought that such a monumental decision perhaps should have been discussed.

* * *

One cup of tea and one cup of coffee followed by a long and passionate kiss with hands reaching for every piece of available skin, was what followed Jo's departure, until the point where Ruth had just beaten Harry to it and had come up for breath. Encouraged by what Jo had said she poured out her heart, telling him that she knew that she wasn't being fair to him because he loved his job but that she didn't want to go back to MI5 and that she wanted to live anywhere other than in London.

He felt rather than saw the slap coming, mainly because he was so excited about telling her that he'd resigned. He'd take her to the moon and back if that's what she wanted or should he just ring the channel tunnel and book a crossing, was when he'd tried to duck and failed. The fact he was laughing probably wasn't helping either but this was the Ruth he loved, full of passion and able to put him in his place. Bugger dinner, it was the bedroom that beckoned.

* * *

Less happy with what lay ahead for him was Michael the Prime Minister. The prospect of being at Chequers, which traditionally was where he was expected to go for the autumn recess, was filling him with dread. He'd listened to Dimitri, filled with ambition and enjoying his new job, surrounded by colleagues who he not only liked but admired, whereas he spent his days with his Cabinet which would be fine until he showed any weakness when they'd turn on him like dogs.

What better way was there for him to spend the upcoming weekend than to arrange an informal party, not only to give Harry the big send - off that he deserved, but for him to show his gratitude to the members of his team. Not looking at his watch he realised only too late that albeit it was still early, Harry and Ruth were obviously in bed. Promising him that they wouldn't be the centre of attention was done with his fingers crossed, but with the assurance that it was smart casual and that he wasn't going to have to be dressed up like a penguin, Harry's words not his, he'd said yes before the phone had been promptly gone dead. Now he felt better, he had some planning to do.

The guest list for the weekend at chequers included Juliet and Diana Jewell in addition to all the members of section D that had been instrumental in saving his life. Harry and Ruth were the guests of honour said the invitation, plus ones were an option, but that they had to let him know their requirements both bedroom wise and if they had any food allergies. The dress code informal, RSVP.

The now astounded members of section D, not only had a weekend off to look forward to, but they were going to be guests at Chequers. In Alec's case there was some serious shopping to be done even though it was smart casual. Having dismissed Ruth from his fantasies but having taken a liking to Juliet during their time in Scotland, he was wondering if he should ring her and suggest that they share a room. Probably not he concluded he didn't want to appear too eager and blow his chances. Whilst Alec was currently _following the yellow brick road_ , Adam had jumped on the same bandwagon and was gazing at his new section chief with more than mentoring on his mind.

Having travelled in pre-determined groups or as couples as was the case with Harry and Ruth and much to his delight Alec with Juliet, they were all now ensconced in their rooms and getting ready for dinner. The PM had greeted each and every one of them as they'd arrived and shown them into the drawing room where tea or coffee was on offer. Pre - dinner drinks were at seven they'd been told, which gave them a couple of hours to get ready and in the case of the younger members of the team to compose themselves. Tariq in particular was struggling, but the ever present Malcolm had assured him that he'd be fine. He didn't quite go so far as to tell him to be himself, which would have seen him scaling the walls in an effort to bug the building. Juliet and Alec weren't at this point sharing a room, but she had plans to remedy that at the first opportunity as Harry and Ruth, who had no idea that the PM knew that he had resigned and that this weekend was all about them, were relaxing in luxury for the first time in weeks.

Still enjoying apologising to Ruth, Harry had been far too occupied to hear their colleagues passing their door on the way down to dinner, besides which their invitation said 7.30 for 8.00, which gave everyone else time to take their places before the guests of honour arrived. They had no idea what the couple who were currently occupying the Walpole Room and enjoying the capacious shower together had planned for their future, but Malcolm had a fair idea that they would be departing the UK shores for pastures new sooner rather than later. He would miss Harry more than he'd ever imagined until now, they were the old school so perhaps he should follow Harry's example and move on.

'You look beautiful Ruth,' Harry told her, continuing the enjoyment of the last hour by fastening the necklace that he had bought her that matched her new midnight blue dress. It was exactly 7.30.

Descending the quiet staircase they had no idea that within seconds of them arriving that the room would reverberate with applause. Ruth as to be expected froze on the spot and gripped Harry's hand like a vice, whereas Harry carried it off with aplomb despite the fact that he presumed that they were half an hour late and that the assembled audience had been discussing the whys and wherefores as to why they hadn't arrived.

Adam saved the day and their embarrassment, by appearing with two glasses of wine.

'Sorry about the subterfuge,' he whispered,' but the PM just fancied a few days as a spy and by the way, apart from Malcolm and me he's the only one that knows your news.'

'What news?' asked Ruth rather too quickly, wondering how on earth they knew what she and Harry had been discussing over the past couple of days.

'That Harry's resigned of course,' replied a now intrigued Adam, wondering what on earth he didn't know and could Ruth possibly be pregnant, in which case lucky old Harry.

The meal was wonderful, everyone managed to behave themselves until it finally reached the moment for the PM to say a few words. He left Harry to tell his remaining astounded colleagues that he had resigned and that as of now, he and Ruth were planning a future together. He thanked each and every one of them for their loyalty not only during what had been a dreadfully testing two weeks but in some cases over the many years that he had known them. Last but not least he thanked the PM for his bravery during the time that they had been entombed together and said that it should be documented in his legacy.

Dinner now over, they withdrew into the huge sitting room and settled themselves in various groups for what was left of the evening. It was close to midnight when they headed for bed.

* * *

Two months later, Polmur sur Mer was celebrating. The trees in the square were bedecked with lights and a local band was playing dance music. It was New Year's Eve and having had a communal meal in the Village Hall, the residents almost without exception were waiting for midnight. Atmospheric didn't do it justice such was the simplicity and lack of pretension. It was so far removed from London that Harry couldn't quite believe what was he was experiencing. Dancing with Ruth held tight against him, he closed his eyes. The dream was now reality and he had never felt this happy. Ruth felt safe and protected encircled by Harry's arms and surrounded by the community that she had grown to love. They had no real plans as to where they would eventually go but it didn't matter, they were safe and they were finally together.

 _Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed this story. Your comments and observations have as always been_ _much_ _appreciated. Another story is in the pipeline._


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